Message in a Bottle (1979)

"Message in a Bottle" by The Police was from their second album, Reggatta De Blanc.

The song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on 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 Police debuted the song on a live television show called "Rock N' Roll Goes to School", filmed at Hatfield Polytechnic School in Hertfordshire, England. The Police donated all money earned from the show to the school.

The single was The Police's first number one hit in the United Kingdom but only reached No74 in the United States. An alternate "Classic Rock" mix is available on Every Breath You Take: The Classics. This is Sting's favorite song as confessed to Jools Holland of BBC fame.

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 (who described the track as a personal favorite in his book One Train Later) and Wayne West performing a rap verse over the chorus of the song.

"Message in a Bottle"
Single by The Police
from the album Reggatta de Blanc
B-Side	Landlord
Released	September, 1979
Format	7" Single
Recorded	1979
Genre	Rock, New Wave
Length	3:50 (7" single edit) 4:50 (Full-length album version)
Label	A & M - AMS 7474
Writer (s)	Sting
Producer	Nigel Gray Stewart Copeland Sting Andy Summers
Certification	Gold (BPI)
The Police singles chronology
"So Lonely" (1978) "Message in a Bottle" (1979) "Walking on the Moon" (1979)