Walking on the Moon 2402550 226182290 2008-07-17T05:30:39Z Chris Capoccia 286058 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}} [[it:Walking on the Moon]] [[ka:Walking on the Moon]] [[pl:Walking on the Moon]]