Message in a Bottle (song)

Message in a Bottle (song)
"Message in a Bottle"
Single by The Police
from the album Reggatta de Blanc
B-side Landlord
Released September, 1979
Format 7" single
Recorded 1979
Genre Rock, new wave
Length 3:50 (7" single edit)
4:50 (Full-length album version)
Label A&M - AMS 7474
Writer(s) Sting
Producer Nigel Gray
Stewart Copeland
Sting
Andy Summers
Certification Gold (BPI)
The Police singles chronology
"So Lonely"
(1978)
"Message in a Bottle"
(1979)
"Walking on the Moon"
(1979)
Audio sample
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"Message in a Bottle" is a 1979 song by The Police, from their second album, Reggatta de Blanc.

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 Police debuted the song on a live television show called "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 single was The Police's first number one hit in the United Kingdom,[1] but only reached #74 in the United States. An alternate "Classic Rock" mix is available on Every Breath You Take: The Classics. This is Sting's favorite song as confessed to Jools Holland of BBC fame.

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 (who described the track as a personal favorite in his book One Train Later) and Kanye West performing a rap verse over the chorus of the song.

Contents

Samples and covers

Appearances in other media

  • The song is featured as a playable cover track in the video game Guitar Hero II for the PS2 and Xbox 360, a playable track in Rock Band Unplugged for the PlayStation Portable, and also appears in the games Guitar Hero: Smash Hits for full band play[4] and Guitar Rock Tour for the Nintendo DS, iPhone and Java ME. It is also a downloadable track for the Rock Band series as a master track.
  • "Message in a Bottle" is the closing song of the documentary film Bring on the Night, which documents the forming of Sting's first band after going solo. Sting performs the song as the encore of the Paris concert that is featured throughout the film. The song is performed as a solo number with Sting accompanying himself on a white Fender Stratocaster.
  • Sting also performs "Message in a Bottle" solo at the 1981 Amnesty International show The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, playing a black Stratocaster.
  • The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for naming each episode after an '80s hit song, named an episode after this song. The episode faced the issue of teenage drinking.
  • This song was used in the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away
  • This song was used in trailers and TV spots for Fool's Gold.
  • Wayne Brady and Chip Esten would sing a version of the song in the game "Greatest Hits" on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Track listing

  1. "Message in a Bottle" (Edit) – 3:50
  2. "Landlord" – 3:09

Personnel

References

Preceded by
"Cars" by Gary Numan
UK number one single
29 September 1979 - 13 October 1979
Succeeded by
"Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles

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