“Message in a Bottle” is a song by the British band The Police. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their second album Reggatta de Blanc. “Message in a Bottle” climbed all the way to No. 1 on the charts, making this the very first Police song to do so. This song was written by lead singer Sting, who also created the opening riff to this song (which has gone on to become one of the most instantly recognizable in rock history). In fact, many critics and fans say it is quite similar to the opening riff from the classic rock song “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult. (You can read about that song here and judge the riffs for yourself). In addition to Sting’s stellar contributions, one of the things that sets “Message in a Bottle” apart is the glorious guitar work of Andy Summers. He took Sting’s opening riff and built an entire musical structure out of those chords in a way that was quite unusual at the time. In many ways, the structure of the guitar parts in this song mimics the structure of stringed instruments as used in many classical music symphonies. The drumming by the third member of The Police, Stewart Copeland, is extraordinary as well. When you get a chance to watch the live video for this song in a moment, pay attention to Copeland’s virtuosic drumming technique. To my knowledge, there is no one out there in the world of popular rock music who plays the drums quite like he does. According to interviews with Copeland, for most of their songs he never paid attention to the lyrics at all. Copeland approached each song from a musical structure point of view and added his drum parts according to the sonic nature of what was required at the time. He states that it was decades later that he actually listened to the stories told in the lyrics and was fully able to appreciate the strength of Sting’s abilities as a songwriter. All in all, the three members of The Police all are at their finest in this song about loneliness.
You might be tempted to think that a song about loneliness and a search for human connection would be a downer of a song, but “Message in a Bottle” is anything but. First of all, the album Reggatta de Blanc was created during a time in England when many new bands were experimenting with the Caribbean influences of Reggae and, in particular, of Ska. One of the reasons that Reggae music caught on in such a big way was that there tended to be a relaxed cadence to the structure of its sound that put people at ease and made them smile and sway along to the beat. Part of the reason that the cadence of Reggae was appealing is because the style used to create the beat or the rhythm of each song was structured differently than the timing used in traditional rock n’ roll to that point. Traditional rock songs by The Rolling Stones, for example, often created rhythm on the 2nd and 4th beats while Reggae bands changed this cadence up. This gave Reggae a fresh and unique vibe. This is not to say that all Reggae music is uplifting and happy in a Bobby McFerrin kind of way. There are many serious topics covered throughout the entirety of the musical canon that constitutes this genre. But, overall, the Reggae vibe tended to be a positive one. It was this musical ideology that The Police were experimenting with in the late 1970s. The Ska-influenced music that they created helped pave the way for the New Wave movement which swept the world as the 1980s began. Thus, the overall sound of “Message in a Bottle” was one that was right for the times in which it was released.
The other thing that helped make “Message in a Bottle” a song that has stood the test of time is the universality of the story that Sting tells in the lyrics. “Message in a Bottle” is a song about loneliness and the search for human connection. Sting discusses this by creating a tiny dramatic play within the song. He introduces a nameless character who takes on an Everyman air. In order to paint a picture of solitude, Sting places this character on a deserted island. He has this person write a note in a bottle in the hope that the message will reach someone, somewhere else in the world. For an entire year, this castaway sits and watches the tides for any sign that the message has been received. This difficulty in maintaining hope becomes the core of the second verse of this song. Then, our mini drama reaches a rousing conclusion as the castaway awakes one day, in verse three, to find “one hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore” and comes to realize that he is “not alone at being alone”. What an important message that is. There is so much going on in the world and in our individual lives that can cause us to wilt under the pressure of it all. To know that we are not alone is a crucial first step in helping to ease the weight of the burdens we bear. That Sting was able to deliver this message using simple language in three short verses while still painting a sweeping portrait of the human condition speaks to the excellence of the songwriting at play in “Message in a Bottle”. When you take this excellent bit of storytelling and combine it with Andy Summer’s fabulous guitar playing (especially the opening riff), Sting’s strong, emotion-filled voice and his ability to lead an audience where he wants them to go and finish it off with Stewart Copeland’s manic drumming, what you end up with is a song that made it to the top of the charts on merit and continues to be an important and popular song to this day.
I am going to provide you with several videos to watch. The first will be the original video that appeared on MTV and Much Music in the early 1980s. It is safe to say that the airplay this video received during those initial months and years when both channels were thirsting for content helped play a large role in bringing “Message in a Bottle”, as well as New Wave music in general, to the masses. The second video will be a live version of the song. “Message in a Bottle” sounds great live. The audience definitely responds to the opening guitar licks from Andy Summers. Again, the drumming mesmerizes me. What a tour-de-force! The third video is of Sting performing the song as a solo artist. His rendition is an acoustic performance given at a school for the deaf. All around him stand young people who sign the words to the song as he sings. It is really all quite nice and serves to reinforce the message that even things that many would assume would lead to social isolation…like deafness…need not do so. We are not so alone in being alone in many respects. The final video is one from a series entitled Songs That Changed Music. This video spends fifteen minutes dissecting “Message in a Bottle”. Parts of it are for music geeks only, but there are other parts that are super interesting such as a thirty-second segment from the early 1980s in which Sting demonstrates how the opening guitar riff works. It is amazing to me to watch someone as talented as Sting pull back the curtain and reveal the magic of why a certain series of sounds in combination produce those iconic bits of music that we love and remember forever, but he does that here in this video. Well worth watching if you want a slightly deeper dive into why “Message in a Bottle” just works so well as a song.
All in all, The Police is one of my favourite bands of all time. All three members brought so much skill and creativity to the table. I am quite certain that, at one time or another, I owned every single one of their albums. Songs like “Roxanne” (which you can read more about here), “So Lonely”, “Can’t Stand Losing You”, “Walking on the Moon”, “Don’t Stand (So Close to Me)”, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”, “Spirits in the Material World”, “Every Breath You Take”, “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and “Synchronicity I and II” are all songs that I paid money to own and continue to listen to right to this very day. The Police were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. While “Roxanne” may have been the song that brought the band into the public spotlight, it was “Message in a Bottle” that brought them to the top of the music world. The members of the band all have stated that “Message in a Bottle” was a song that they loved to play live. When musicians as talented as Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland all enjoy basking in the warm glow of such a cleverly constructed song, then you know they must be onto something. The storyteller in me loves this song for the concise manner in which such a universal story is told. I love how the song sounds, too. That guitar riff in combination with Copeland’s drumming and Sting’s voice is a recipe for success. I doubt that I am alone in my assertion that “Message in a Bottle” is one excellent song, period!.
The link to the official website for The Police can be found here.
The link to the video for the official version of the song “Message in a Bottle” by The Police can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the video of the live version of “Message in a Bottle” by The Police can be found here.
The link to the video of Sting’s acoustic version of “Message in a Bottle” as performed at the school for the deaf can be found here.
The link to the video about “Message in a Bottle” as dissected in the series Songs That Changed Music can be found here.
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Undoubtedly an iconic song. That opening guitar riff is great, as are Sting’s bass playing and Stewart Copeland’s drums. Perhaps my only “problem” with “Message in a Bottle” is that it has been heavily overexposed. But one could certainly make that same comment about other great Police songs like “So Lonely” and “Roxanne.”
Sometimes I write about more indie/alternative music that may seem obscure to others, sometimes I write about songs that people know and like. This is one of those times when I wrote for me and for the people who need to hear a song that they might hear on the radio or the grocery store. It’s all ok. The music world is large and varied. There is room to talk about No. 1 songs, too. Have a great weekend. Stay cool. 🙂
Thanks, you too. It’s gonna be toasty outdoors!