"Message in a Bottle" is a song by English rock bandThe Police. It was released as the lead single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc. Written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting, the song is ostensibly about a story of a castawayon 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 song was the first of their five UK number one singles. Rolling Stone ranked it number 65 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".
Composition
The song exemplifies the reggae/post-punk style of early Police. It is composed in the key of C minor with a chord progression of C#m9-Amaj9-B7-F#m. According to the band's guitarist, Andy Summers, Sting had initially intended the guitar riff that "Message in a Bottle" is centred around for a different song. Summers said to L'Historia Bandidio in 1981: "Sting had that riff for a while, but there was another tune with it originally. He'd been fiddling about with it during our first American tour. Finally, he rearranged the riff slightly and came up with the song." Summers came up with, as Sting described, "lovely arpeggiated shiver" during the break prior to the third verse. Sting praised this addition saying, "He'd do that – the song would be quite raw and he'd just add these lovely colours." The song was recorded at Surrey Sound Studios as part of the sessions for the Reggatta de Blanc album. Stewart Copeland's drumming, praised as his "finest drum track" by Summers, was "overdubbed about six different parts." The song's B-side, "Landlord", was written by Sting and Copeland. Sting said of its inspiration, "I wrote that after Frances and I were thrown out of the house we were renting in London. I hated the idea of somebody fucking my life up like that. Stewart wrote the music." The song originally featured lyrics by Copeland, but they were replaced by Sting's.
Live performances
The Police debuted the song on live television on the BBC's Rock Goes to College, filmed at Hatfield Polytechnic College in Hertfordshire, England. The Police donated all money earned from the show to the college. 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 and Kanye West performing a rap verse over the chorus of the song.
Reception
The song was released as the first single from Reggatta de Blanc in September 1979. The song was a massive success in Britain, becoming The Police's first hit in the UK Singles Chart. The song also topped the charts in Ireland and reached in Australia. Despite its popularity in the UK, the single only reached in the United States. An alternative "classic rock" mix is available on . "Message in a Bottle" is also a personal favourite of the members of the band. In addition to saying it was his favourite song in an interview with Jools Holland of the BBC, Sting described it as a "good song", and also said that he was "very proud" of it. Copeland said it was "one of our best moments in the studio and always great on stage." Summers described the track as a personal favourite in his book One Train Later, and said, "For me, it's still the best song Sting ever came up with and the best Police track." According to Billboard Magazine, "Message in a Bottle" has an "irresistible" hook.
American crossover thrash band Excel recorded a cover for their 1989 album The Joke's On You. American groove metal band Machine Head recorded a cover of the song for their 1999 album The Burning Red. American rock band American Hi-Fi performed a cover of the song for the 2003 film Rugrats Go Wild. American reggae artist Matisyahu recorded a cover, originally released on Yahoo! Music. It was then available in his 2006 album No Place to Be. On April 14, 2020, Sting recorded a duet cover of Message in a Bottle with the quartet All Saints.
