{"id":4925,"date":"2013-07-09T14:53:26","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T22:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=4925"},"modified":"2015-08-20T01:05:27","modified_gmt":"2015-08-20T09:05:27","slug":"were-the-lyrics-to-every-breath-you-take-taken-from-an-actual-stalkers-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/07\/09\/were-the-lyrics-to-every-breath-you-take-taken-from-an-actual-stalkers-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Were the Lyrics to &#8220;Every Breath You Take&#8221; Taken from an Actual Stalker&#8217;s Letters?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/music-legends-revealed-history\/\">here<\/a> to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">MUSIC URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: The lyrics to &#8220;Every Breath You Take&#8221; are taken from an actual stalker&#8217;s letters.<\/p>\n<p>If The Police&#8217;s &#8220;Every Breath You Take&#8221; is not the world&#8217;s most misinterpreted song, it&#8217;s certainly pretty high up their on the list of songs that people tend to misinterpret.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/every.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B000W299VM&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The song has become a paragon of romance, while really, the song is not about romance at all, but about unhealthy obession.<\/p>\n<p>Just look at the lyrics:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Since youve gone I been lost without a trace<br \/>\nI dream at night I can only see your face<br \/>\nI look around but its you I cant replace<br \/>\nI feel so cold and I long for your embrace<br \/>\nI keep crying baby, baby, please&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Oh, cant you see<br \/>\nYou belong to me<br \/>\nHow my poor heart aches<br \/>\nWith every breath you take<\/p>\n<p>Every move you make<br \/>\nEvery vow you break<br \/>\nEvery smile you fake<br \/>\nEvery claim you stake<br \/>\nIll be watching you\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sting, who wrote the song, has a great line regarding it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>One couple told me &#8216;Oh we love that song; it was the main song played at our wedding!&#8217; I thought, Well, good luck.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In any event, though, the song has brought rise to a number of legends about its origin, with the most prominent being that Sting supposedly used an actual letter from a stalker (either written to him or just a random stalker letter he somehow got his hands on) and adapted said letter into this song.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThat is not true.<\/p>\n<p>The song was written by Sting in response to the breakup of his marriage to Frances Tomelty &#8211; the unrequited love of the song is what he was feeling at the time.<\/p>\n<p>And really, since Sting has said that Gene Pitney&#8217;s &#8220;Every Breath I Take&#8221; was an influence, it&#8217;s unlikely that he would have gotten the lyrics from some random stalker letter.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/genepitney.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B00000I8AJ&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In addition, it&#8217;s PROBABLY not a coincidence that Led Zeppelin&#8217;s &#8220;D&#8217;yer Maker&#8221; has the lyrics:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/led_zeppelin.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B0011Z3G6I&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Oh oh oh oh oh oh, Every breath I take oh oh oh oh oh<br \/>\nEvery move I make hey hey, Baby please don&#8217;t go.<br \/>\nAy ay ay ay ay ay, You hurt me to my soul oh oh oh oh,<br \/>\nYou hurt me to my soul oh oh oh oh,<br \/>\nDarling please don&#8217;t go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Another rumor (similarly untrue) is that Sting wrote it about a newborn baby. If you look at the song from that angle, it doesn&#8217;t seem so untoward, but yeah, that&#8217;s not true, either.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s just about his (then) impending divorce.<\/p>\n<p>The legend is..<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">STATUS<\/span><\/u>: False<\/p>\n<p>Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future urban legends columns! My e-mail address is bc&#x72;&#x6f;&#x6e;in&#64;&#x6c;&#x65;ge&#110;&#x64;&#x73;re&#118;&#x65;&#x61;&#x6c;ed&#x2e;&#x63;&#x6f;m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far. MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: The lyrics to &#8220;Every Breath You Take&#8221; are taken from an actual stalker&#8217;s letters. If The Police&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-1hr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7488,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2015\/12\/17\/were-the-lyrics-to-sarah-mclachlans-possession-taken-from-an-actual-stalkers-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":4925,"position":0},"title":"Were the Lyrics to Sarah McLachlan&#8217;s  \u201cPossession\u201d Taken from an Actual Stalker\u2019s Letters?","date":"December 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. 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