After every breath is over 40 years, you can make the rankings, and painful hatred between Sting and his former police band members have poured into the courtroom.
Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland have filed lawsuits in the London High Court claiming they should be recognized and paid for, and as co-writers of the 1983 classic, one of the most popular songs in broadcast history.
The case marks an extraordinary new chapter in one of Rock’s most vulnerable relationships. The police are notorious for their internal conflicts, but this is the first time that they have been controversial before a judge.
A song without mystery – except who owns it
There is little debate about the origin of the song. Sting kept saying that he was inspired while in Jamaica and wrote a sentence, chords and melody. His original demo is almost the same version released on the band’s sync album.
What Summers and Copeland now think is their contribution, especially Summers’ unique guitar Arpeggio Riff – transforming the track from rough sketches to timeless hits. Summers describes his character as saving the song from “The Trash in Trash.”
As far as Sting is concerned, he admits Summers added stamps, but insists that structure and composition are his solitude. The line between songwriting and arrangement has long been one of the toughest disputes in the music industry, and the police case has eased it drastically.
The financial bet is huge. Every breath you make has incurred millions of royalties since its release. It was declared by BMI as the most popular songs in broadcast history in 2019, and I will miss you when Puff Daddy (now Diddy) re-produced it to the 1997 global rankings.
In 2022, Sting sold the rights to its entire catalog (solo and police) to General Music, an estimated $250 million. Any change in credit can force renegotiation of royalties for one of the most valuable directories in pop music.
The lawsuit is just the latest skirmish in a long war. The synchronization of recording sessions can be shocking, and boxing explodes in the studio. Sting and Copeland had been so fierce that Sting did most of the tour with a ruptured rib.
Despite their musical chemistry, the band split up in irreconcilable tensions shortly after the album was released. They were reunited for only a brief moment, most notably the lucrative 2007 world tour.
The case also highlights how publishing revenues become more critical as album sales and traditional sources of revenue decline. For veteran musicians, the points of the song determine not only their income, but their legacy.
Summers has long advised him on his worthy share. “Impromptu has become an immortal guitar part that all guitarists must learn,” he said. “It should have been recognized.”
Ironically, the song itself is often mistaken for a romantic ballad, and is actually about obsession and control. “It’s evil,” Sting once said. He even wrote a follow-up event – if you love others to let them go – as an antidote to what he calls the original “poison.”
Now, forty years, the song’s dark subtext matches a row of bitter lines, which shows no signs of the ending.
Whether Summers and Gull can convince the court that their contributions equal songwriting rather than arrangement remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the war within the police is far from over, and one of the world’s most famous love songs continues to leave a wave of pickiness.
