Message in a Bottle (song)
| "Message in a Bottle" | |||||||||||||||||
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| Single by The Police | |||||||||||||||||
| from the album Reggatta de Blanc | |||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Landlord" | ||||||||||||||||
| Released | 21 September 1979 | ||||||||||||||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 1979 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Length | 4:50 (Album version) 5:06 (Full version) |
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| Label | A&M | ||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Sting | ||||||||||||||||
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| The Police singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||
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"Message in a Bottle" is a song by English rock band The Police. It was released as the lead single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979). Written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting, the song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is destined to be alone. The next day, he sees "a hundred billion bottles" on the shore, finding out that there are more people like him out there.
The song was the first of their five UK number one singles.Rolling Stone ranked it number 65 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".
According to the band's guitarist, Andy Summers, the guitar riff that "Message in a Bottle" is centred around was originally used for a different song. During the band's first American tour, however, he reworked the song and slightly altered the riff, becoming the final version of the song. In addition to the core riff, Summers came up with, as Sting described, "lovely arpeggiated shiver" during the break prior to the third verse. Sting praised this addition saying, "He'd [Summers] do that – the song would be quite raw and he'd just add these lovely colours." The song was recorded at Surrey Sound Studios as part of the Reggatta de Blanc sessions. Stewart Copeland's drumming, praised as his "finest drum track" by Summers, was "overdubbed [from] about six different parts."
The Police debuted the song on live television on the BBC's Rock Goes to College, filmed at Hatfield Polytechnic College in Hertfordshire, England. The Police donated all money earned from the show to the school.
The song was released as the first single from Reggatta de Blanc in September 1979. The song was a massive success in Britain, becoming The Police's first number one hit in the UK Singles Chart. The song also topped the charts in Ireland and reached Number 5 in Australia. Despite its popularity in the UK, the single only reached number 74 in the United States. An alternative "classic rock" mix is available on Every Breath You Take: The Classics.
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