<P> The song is considered to be both The Police's and Sting's signature song, and in 2010 was estimated to generate between a quarter and a third of Sting's music publishing income . In the 1983 Rolling Stone critics and readers poll, it was voted "Song of the Year". In the US, it was the best - selling single of 1983 and fifth - best - selling single of the decade . Billboard ranked it as the number - one song for 1983 . </P> <P> The song ranked number 84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll . It also ranked number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 All - Time Top Songs . In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV . </P> <P> Sting wrote the song in 1982 in the aftermath of his separation from Frances Tomelty and the beginning of his relationship with Trudie Styler . Their split was controversial . As The Independent reported in 2006, "The problem was, he was already married--to actress Frances Tomelty, who just happened to be Trudie's best friend (Sting and Frances lived next door to Trudie in Bayswater, west London, for several years before the two of them became lovers). The affair was widely condemned ." In order to escape from the public eye, Sting retreated in the Caribbean where he started writing the song . The lyrics are the words of a possessive lover who is watching "every breath you take; every move you make". </P> <P> I woke up in the middle of the night with that line in my head, sat down at the piano and had written it in half an hour . The tune itself is generic, an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the words are interesting . It sounds like a comforting love song . I didn't realize at the time how sinister it is . I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control . </P>

The police every breath you take song meaning
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