Walking on the Moon
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2008-07-17T05:30:39Z
Chris Capoccia
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reformatted references
{{Morefootnotes}}
{{Infobox Single
| Name = Walking on the Moon
| Cover = Walkingonthemoon.jpg
| Artist = [[The Police]]
| from Album = [[Reggatta de Blanc]]
| Released = [[1979]]
| Format = [[vinyl record]] (7")
| Recorded = 1979
| Genre = [[New Wave music|New Wave]]
| Length = 5:03
| Label = [[A&M Records|A&M]] - <small>AMS 7494</small>
| Writer = [[Sting (musician)|Sting]]
| Producer = [[Stewart Copeland]],<br> Sting,<br> [[Andy Summers]]
| Chart position = <ul><li>#1 ([[United Kingdom|UK]])
<li><li>#9 ([[Australia]])</ul></ul>
| NoReviews = Yes
| Last single = "[[Message in a Bottle (song)|Message in a Bottle]]"<br/>(1979)
| This single = "'''Walking on the Moon'''"<br/> (1979)
| Next single = "[[So Lonely]]"<br/> (1980)
{{Extra album cover
| Upper caption = Alternate covers
| Background = khaki
| Cover = ThePoliceWalkingOnTheMoonFrench7InchSingleCover.jpg
| Lower caption = French 7-inch single cover
}}
{{Audiosample
| Upper caption = Audio sample
| Audio file = Walking on the Moon by The Police.ogg
}}
}}
{{other|Moonwalk}}
"'''Walking on the Moon'''" is a 1979 song by [[The Police]], from their second album, ''[[Reggatta de Blanc]]''. The song was The Police's second number one hit single in the [[United Kingdom]] after "[[Message in a Bottle (song)|Message in a Bottle]]", but didn't chart in the [[United States]]. According to [[Sting (musician)|Sting]] the song is about the feeling of being in love.
Sting said that he wrote the song when he was drunk:<ref>{{cite book |first=Hugh |last=Fielder |coauthors=Phil Sutcliffe |title=The Police l'historia bandido |publisher=Proteus |location=North Bellmore, N.Y |year=1981 |isbn=0-906071-77-1}}</ref>
{{cquote|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 starting walking round the room singing : "Walking round the room, 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:<ref>{{cite book |author=Sting |title=Broken music: a memoir |publisher=Dial Press |location=New York |year=2003 |isbn=0-385-33678-0}}</ref>
{{cquote|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.}}
The video for the song was filmed at [[Kennedy Space Center]] on [[October 23]], 1979. It features the band members pantomiming to the song 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.
==Covers==
The British soul/funk band Hot Chocolate recorded a cover version of this song for their album ''Everyone's A Winner''. Musician [[Jimmy Nail]] (also from Sting's hometown of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]]) released a cover version of "Walking on the Moon" in [[2001 in music|2001]]. [[Germans|German]] [[techno]] group [[Scooter (band)|Scooter]] sampled The Police original in the song "Privileged To Witness" from the [[2005 in music|2005]] album ''[[Who's Got The Last Laugh Now?]]''. During [[Feeder (band)|Feeder]]'s second gig of [[2006]] at the [[Hammersmith Apollo]], frontman [[Grant Nicholas]] sung the first few lines of the song in between their own song "Pilgrim Soul". [[Cas Haley]] runner up for America's Got Talent does a reggae cover of the song on his self title debut released on February 14, 2008
==Personnel==
*[[Sting (musician)|Sting]] - Lead vocals, fretless bass guitar, guitar
*[[Andy Summers]] - Lead guitar
*[[Stewart Copeland]] - Drums
== Track listing ==
=== 7": A&M / AMS 7494 {{flagicon|UK}} ===
# "Walking on the Moon" (Edit) - 4:08
# "Visions of the Night" - 3:05
=== 12": A&M / AMSP 7494 {{flagicon|UK}} ===
# "Walking on the Moon" - 4:59
# "Visions of the Night" - 3:05
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{start box}}
{{succession box
| before = "[[When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman]]" by [[Dr Hook]]
| title = [[List of number-one singles (UK)|UK number one single]]
| years = [[December 8]] [[1979]]
| after = "[[Another Brick in the Wall]]" by [[Pink Floyd]]
}}
{{end box}}
{{The Police}}
[[Category:The Police songs]]
[[Category:1979 songs]]
{{1970s-song-stub}}
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