“Every Breath You Take” removed from English choir’s repertoire

Britain’s largest choir, the Rock Choirannounced that he will no longer perform the song by Police from 1983 “Every Breath You Take” because of its content. The choir which is made up of over 31,000 people across the UK has been performing the song for some time but will now be removed from the repertoire. The song illustrates a sick love relationship in which one party persecutes the other. Here is the text and translation.

In a letter addressed to all members of the choir, the founder
Caroline Redman Lusher
motivated this decision with these words: “Dear Rockies, after much reflection and discussion with some members of the team, I have made the difficult decision to remove “Every Breath You Take” from the repertoire. I have never removed a song before, But because of the impact the narrative is having on some Rockies and the potential, when taught, negative sentiment on the part of most members, I believe it would be wise to replace the song.” The choir has groups in over 400 communities across the UK and
Redman Lusher
recently received an honor from
King Charles III
for his services to music and charitable work.

Sting
who wrote the song included in the fifth and final album of
Police “Synchronicity” (read the review here

has long rejected accusations that
“Every Breath You Take”
had a text with sinister undertones. In 1993, for example, he said that he saw it more as a story about Big Brother than a song about a stalker. As reported by Far Out, he stated about how the lyrics came about: “I woke up in the middle of the night with that phrase in my head, so I sat down at the piano and wrote it in half an hour. The melody itself is generic , an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the lyrics are interesting. It feels like a comforting love song. I didn’t realize at the time how sinister it was. I think I was thinking about Big Brother and surveillance and control.”

In 1997
P. Diddy
sampled successfully
“Every Breath You Take”
for his
“I’ll Be Missing You”
. Now, however, the American rapper
must face a trial
set for May 5, in which he faces up to 15 years in prison for running a large-scale criminal organization aimed at satisfying his need for sexual gratification. Last November in
Sting
was asked if he doesn’t believe that the song, already talked about for its lyrics, is not further tarnished by this ugly affair, the English musician replied: “No. Let me explain, I don’t know what happened. But for me it doesn’t ruin it at all the song. It’s still my song.”