B-side "Visions of the Night" Format Vinyl record (7") Genre Reggae rock
new wave | Released 4 November 1979 Recorded 1979 Length 5:02 | |
"Walking on the Moon" is a song by English rock band The Police, released as the second single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979). The song was written by the band's lead vocalist and bassist Sting when he was drunk. It has since become a number one UK hit for the band, and it has appeared on numerous compilation albums.
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The song has also been covered by numerous musicians, including Christian McBride, Intwine, and William Shatner.
Background
Sting said that he wrote the song when he was drunk one night after a concert in Munich. That following morning, he remembered the song and wrote it down.
I was drunk in a hotel room in Munich, slumped on the bed with the whirling pit when this riff came into my head. I got up and started walking round the room, singing 'Walking round the room, ya, ya, walking round the room'. That was all. In the cool light of morning I remembered what had happened and I wrote the riff down. But 'Walking Round the Room' was a stupid title so I thought of something even more stupid which was 'Walking on the Moon'.
In his autobiography, Sting alludes that the song was partially inspired by an early girlfriend:
Deborah Anderson was my first real girlfriend...walking back from Deborah's house in those early days would eventually become a song, for being in love is to be relieved of gravity.
According to Sting, the song was originally recorded "as a rocker" in early versions, but it was reworked. The riff, which is played on the bass, was described as "weird" and "jazzy" by Sting. The chord "which hits after the bass notes" throughout the song, was invented by guitarist Andy Summers.
"Walking on the Moon" was released as the follow-up single to the British number one single, "Message in a Bottle," in late 1979. The song was The Police's second number-one hit single in the United Kingdom. It also reached number one in Ireland and number nine in Australia but the single didn't chart in the United States.
The B-side to the song, "Visions of the Night," was written by Sting. Sting said of the song, "This was the first song I wrote after going to London. It was hard to be serious about the whole thing. I was bemused, much to Stewart [Copeland]'s disgust." According to Copeland, the song was "too cerebral for [the band's] early audiences," so Sting would call it 'Three O'Clock Shit', the title of a rejected Police song that appears as 'Three O'Clock Shot' on Strontium 90: Police Academy.
A music video for the song was shot at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 23 October 1979. It features the band members miming to the track amidst spacecraft displays, interspersed with NASA footage. Both Sting and Andy Summers strum guitars (not bass) in the video, and Stewart Copeland strikes his drumsticks on a Saturn V moon rocket.
Composition
"Walking on the Moon" has a "sparse" arrangement, centred around a four note bass riff. Sting performs lead vocals on the song. It is one of The Police's more reggae-influenced songs.
Track listing
- "Walking on the Moon" (Edit) – 3:59 (This edit has yet to appear on CD anywhere)
- "Visions of the Night" – 3:05
- "Walking on the Moon" – 4:59
- "Visions of the Night" – 3:05