In this edition of "Favorite Music Friday", I want to spotlight one of the great songs of the '80s. This is a song that I wanted to talk about eventually, but the subject came up recently. Two weeks ago, in fact, when we were talking about The Police before the LV game.
I have many favorites, whether it's music, or books, or movies, but I haven't made the conscious decision to list any of them in order, as a "top ten" or "best of", or sort them out in that way. There are usually so many greats to choose from that it's difficult for me to narrow it down. At some point I'll post about my favorite movie, The Maltese Falcon, but that list gets scattered after #1.
One that I'm sure of: "Every Breath You Take" is my choice for the Best Pop Song of All Time.
I know, it's a song about a stalker. Sting himself has said that it's "very sinister and ugly". I understand that. However, musically, it's beautiful. The video is elegant in its simplicity.
Having said that, I actually like my runner-up choice better: "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". The only reason "Every Breath You Take" edges it out is because it was a bigger commercial hit.
As a film buff, I love that it's obviously shot using film. There's speckles and pops, and a film tear at 0:15 seconds into the video:
At the first listen, it's deceptively simple. In the video the band does a silly dance in the recording studio. But when you really listen (headphones, not earbuds), there's a great deal going on in the song -- the layers, the changes. What I mentioned before, about the music telling a story, is found here. It really brings up a host of emotions for me.
I wanted to include the "official" MTV versions of these videos, but their player is very jerky and stops to re-buffer. Here are the links; you may have better luck:
http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/18169/every-breath-you-take.jhtml#artist=1143
http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/9671/every-little-thing-she-does-is-magic.jhtml#artist=1143
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