Sting began a career as a solo artist, scoring a hit album with his first post-Police effort, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, released in 1985. On the recording, he worked with several jazz musicians, including Branford Marsalis. Sting went on to release a string of successful solo albums, including Nothing Like the Sun (1987), The Soul Cages (1991), Ten Summoner's Tales (1993) and Mercury Falling (1996). During this period, Sting wrote and recorded a diverse range of music, from haunting ballads to intriguing instrumental pieces to upbeat popular songs. He found chart success with such singles as "Englishman in New York,""If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" and "Fields of Gold." Acting and Scoring in Films The music video for Sting's version of the song features him driving around in a vintage sports car and singing on a deserted beach. Reggae artist Matisyahu covered the song, first as a Yahoo! Music exclusive and later on his 2006 remix album No Place to Be. The Lemon Tree Trust is a UK-based charity that supports gardening programs in refugee camps and other places affected by conflict or natural disasters. Tobler, John (2016). "Police - Reggatta De Blanc". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. London: Cassell Illustrated. p.428.

Interviewer] Dom, when you played that riff — that thing has been sampled by so many people and used for songs. What do you think about that? Every Breath You Take” is, to this day, still perceived to be a love song. However, the lyrics are actually spoken from a character with sinister intent. During the time Sting wrote this song, he had just divorced his first wife, Frances Tomelty. While his intention may have been to write a sweet, emotional love song from the beginning, he was soon realizing that he was entering into a dark place that fought for control and surveillance. Being in the midst of the Cold War, at that time, did not help the situation.Kitchener, Heather (17 February 2015). "Paul Simon and Sting review – well-worn classics from two songwriting giants". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 22 January 2020. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.235. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. In addition to his musical career, Sting has been active in human rights and other social issues. He and his wife, Trudie Styler, have been married since 1992. The couple has four children. Sting also has two other children from his first marriage. The first stanza finds the singer at home, sitting alone on a rainy Sunday, with nothing to occupy his time. He longs for his lover's arrival but is left hanging. The second verse sees him driving around aimlessly, feeling a sense of loneliness that leaves him looking for a point of view that isn't his own. He is still looking for his lover and is disappointed when he is left waiting yet again.

In 2007, Sting surprised and delighted fans of The Police when the group performed together on the Grammy Awards television broadcast. The band also announced it would tour for the first time in over two decades. He also continued with his solo career, releasing the holiday album If On a Winter's Night. . . in 2009. 'The Last Ship' Broadway Musical The song also features Stevie Wonder on harmonica. Sting said this about Stevie coming in to play for him: The song has been covered by several artists, including the band Fools Garden in 1995, whose version became a hit in Europe. Sting: I don’t think it’s a sad song. I think it’s a nasty little song, really rather evil. It’s about jealousy and surveillance and ownership. The song was the first of their five UK number one singles. [6] Rolling Stone ranked it number 65 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".In 2022, soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, Sting posted a video of himself singing this song, adding the following: In the Fools Garden version, the chorus contains the lyrics "I wonder how, I wonder why, yesterday you told me 'bout the blue, blue sky, and all that I can see is just another winter tree," whereas Sting's version replaces "winter tree" with "lemon tree." All last summer I lived with Cheb Mami’s album. Eating, walking, all the time. His voice is an incredible instrument. He does whatever he wants with it, it really impressed me, as did his talent as a musician. I hadn’t got any idea of what he could sing, I didn’t know rai music. Then I saw him in Bercy with Khaled, Rachid Taha and this great orchestra… and Steve Hillage. Very impressed, I began to write a song on this experience and we met. I asked him if he’d like to sing for me, in a way to ‘authenticate’ my experience (ironic smile). He’s a lovely man. He sung without knowing what I was singing. As it happens, it’s about desire, craving. I asked him: just improvise, in arab, on my melody. Later I asked him what he was talking about, he answered that he sang about desire, craving of a loved person. I told him that it was exactly the song’s theme! So the music suggested those words. It was a sort of unconscious and automatic process. I always considered that it was the music which wrote the text. For this album, more than all the others, I began by writing the music, then I went walking and this music suggested a character, a story. Like a sculptor who kneads his material, then notices a nose, a leg. It’s longer, but more organic." The Police performed at Live Earth, a 2007 charity concert to raise awareness of global warming and other environmental hazards, and performed "Message in a Bottle" as the US finale, with John Mayer playing guitar with Andy Summers and Kanye West performing a rap verse over the chorus of the song. Music Week Fact Sheets. Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 8 September 1979. p.22 . Retrieved 12 October 2022.

The chorus is optimistic about the future, with the singer returning to the conversation with his partner where they talked about the blue sky, but he can only focus on the lemon tree. The motif of the lemon tree is symbolic of his frustration with the routine and the limitations he faces, while the blue sky represents the optimism he needs to break out of his cycle. You know, I wrote this song and it had kind of like a shuffle, and it reminded me of Stevie Wonder, and I said ‘God, it would be great if Stevie would play on this.’ So I made a phone call, full of trepidation because he’s one of my idols, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come to New York and do it.’ He turned up and played his ass off. That really authenticated the song for me. And when he walks into a room, it’s like a higher being. He’s a powerful, spiritual entity. For him to play on my record and James too, because he’s one of the reasons I do what I do is so much fun and a great honour as well." Regardless of the turmoil during the recording, “Every Breath You Take” was a worldwide success. The music video, directed by Godley & Creme, even won the band the first Best Cinematography award at the 1983 MTV Video Music Awards. The song also stands as the signature song of The Police and has been played more than 9 million times on radio. International Briefs - Madrid". Billboard. 27 September 1980. p.56 . Retrieved 9 March 2022– via Google Books.Sting: I think the ambiguity is intrinsic in the song however you treat it because the words are so sadistic. On one level, it’s a nice long song with the classic relative minor chords, and underneath there’s this distasteful character talking about watching every move. I enjoy that ambiguity. I watched Andy Gibb singing it with some girl on TV a couple of weeks ago, very loving, and totally misinterpreting it. (Laughter) I could still hear the words, which aren’t about love at all. However, Sting has either a contradicting, or more explanatory anecdote on how he got Stevie to work on the song: