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 file info · help

"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.

Samples and covers

• Canadian rock band Noise Therapy covered the song on their 2000 album Toyko 5-0.
• Rap artist Pastor Troy uses samples from "Message in a Bottle" on his song "Street Law" in 2008.
• Rap artist Charles Hamilton samples "Message in a Bottle" heavily in the song "Verbal Vicodin", off the mix tape Intervention.
• Rock band 30 Seconds to Mars covered the song live in 2006. The performance was released on their EP AOL Sessions Undercover.
• Thrash metal band Machine Head covered "Message in a Bottle" for their album The Burning Red.
• Punk band Leatherface covered "Message in a Bottle" for their album Mush.
• Punk band Set Your Goals covered "Message in a Bottle" but have yet to release it on an album.^[2]
• Pop-rock artist John Mayer often covers "Message in a Bottle" during his live performances. A recorded performance can be found on Any Given Thursday, a live album recorded in Birmingham, Alabama.
• Hasidic reggae singer Matisyahu covered the song with an additional verse for his record No Place to Be.
• Metal band Graveworm released a cover of "Message in a Bottle" on the album Diabolical Figures in 2009.
• Crossover thrash band Excel covered "Message in a Bottle" for their album The Joke's on You.
• The John Butler Trio covers this live on Europe2 TV.^[3]

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

• Stewart Copeland – drums
• Sting – bass guitar, lead vocals, background vocals
• Andy Summers – guitar

References

1. ^ The Police in the UK Charts, The Official Charts.
2. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3eGILqyyM
3. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zXwaqJgRV8&feature=related
4. ^ http://smashhits.guitarhero.com/index_en_US.html

• ""Message in a Bottle" entry at Songfacts". http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1546. 
• Message in a Bottle on YouTube

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