27/03/2025
How one of the most iconic songs of the 80s was nearly scuppered.
In the summer of 1982, a volatile atmosphere filled the AIR Studios in Montserrat. "The Police" were deep into recording "Synchronicity", their fifth and final studio album. The tension between Sting and Stewart Copeland had become almost unbearable. Sting, newly emboldened by solo ambitions and creative control, clashed constantly with Copeland, whose drumming instincts no longer aligned with Sting’s vision of tighter, more atmospheric tracks. Arguments flared often, but it was during the recording of "Every Breath You Take" that the conflict reached its peak, threatening to derail the band’s biggest song before it even existed.
Sting had written the skeleton of the song during a retreat in Jamaica, envisioning it as a sparse, haunting ballad built around a steady rhythmic foundation and a melancholic melody. But when he brought it to the studio, things immediately fell apart. Copeland's aggressive drumming didn’t suit the subdued feel Sting wanted, and each take ended in a screaming match. The two refused to even be in the same room during certain sessions. Engineer Hugh Padgham later recalled that they often recorded their parts separately because the tension was too thick to allow creative collaboration. The emotional chasm between them reflected in the sterile, fragmented progress on the track.
In the middle of this chaos, Andy Summers, quiet, deliberate, and often caught in the crossfire, remained focused. His role in the band had often been overshadowed by Sting’s charisma and Copeland’s energy, but on this particular day, his understated genius would define not just the song but "The Police’s" entire sonic legacy. While Sting and Copeland were locked in their creative standoff, Summers listened. He understood the emotional core Sting was aiming for: obsessive, intimate, and dark.
During one particularly heated day when the song had stalled completely, Summers requested time alone in the studio. The session log shows it happened in a single take. He plugged his Fender Telecaster into a Roland JC-120 amp and added compression, chorus, and reverb to create a shimmering, clean tone. Then he began to play. The result was the now-iconic arpeggiated riff that would come to define "Every Breath You Take". It was hypnotic, haunting, and perfectly captured the mood Sting had been chasing but couldn’t articulate through the battles.
When Sting heard it, he stopped. The atmosphere shifted. The riff wrapped around his lyrics like a skeleton around flesh, intimate and cold, yet strangely beautiful. The bickering ceased for a moment. Even Copeland, despite still disliking the overall song due to its minimal rhythm section, acknowledged that Summers’ guitar had transformed it. That single riff made the track work, offering a haunting stillness in contrast to the band’s usual syncopated chaos.
But Summers’ contribution wasn’t just musical. His timing and diplomacy had a calming effect that defused the worst of the conflict. By independently delivering a solution, he had saved the song without directly taking sides. In doing so, he provided a neutral ground where Sting and Copeland could at least co-exist long enough to finish the track. It was a moment of silent mediation, no grand gestures, no shouting matches, only a few notes that carried the weight of the entire song.
When the track was finally mixed, it became clear they had captured something rare. "Every Breath You Take" would go on to dominate charts worldwide and become one of the most played songs in radio history. But its success wasn’t built on compromise or collective synergy. It rose out of dissonance, tempered by the quiet intervention of a guitarist who knew exactly when and how to speak through his instrument.
Summers never demanded credit for saving the song. But without his intervention on that tense, uncertain day, the most enduring hit in "The Police’s" catalog might have remained unfinished, buried under ego and discord. One quiet take, one perfect riff, and a fractured band held together long enough to make history.
