THE POLICE - WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER

WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER

THE POLICE

SONGWRITER: GORDON SUMNER

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: SYNCHRONICITY

LABEL: A & M RECORDS

GENRE: POP

YEAR: 1983

 

           The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting(lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers(guitar) and Stewart Copeland(drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.

    Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour, reached Nº 6 on the UK Albums Chart on the strength of the singles "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You". Their second album, Reggatta de Blanc(1979), became the first of four consecutive Nº 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia; its first two singles, "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon", became their first UK number ones. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Ghost in the Machine(1981), led to further critical and commercial success with two songs, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", becoming UK number-one singles and Top 5 hits in other countries; the former album was their breakthrough into the US reaching number five on the US Billboard 200.

       Their final studio album, Synchronicity (1983), was Nº 1 in the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy and the US, selling over 8 million copies in the US. Its lead single, "Every Breath You Take", became their fifth UK number one, and only US number one. During this time, the band were considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the US; in 1983 Rolling Stone labelled them "the first British New Wave act to break through in America on a grand scale, and possibly the biggest band in the world." The Police disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour that ended in August 2008. They were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, due to their reunion tour.

        Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by English rock band the Police, released on 17 June 1983 by A&M Records. The band's most successful release, the album includes the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II". The album's title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler's The Roots of Coincidence. At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards, including Album of the Year, and won three. At the time of its release and following its tour, the Police's popularity was at such a high that they were arguably, according to BBC and The Guardian, the "biggest band in the world".

        Synchronicity reached number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over eight million copies in the US. The album was widely acclaimed by critics. Praise centred on its cohesive merging of disparate genres and sonic experimentation. Rolling Stone described "each cut on Synchronicity [as] not simply a song but a miniature, discrete soundtrack". It has since been included in the magazine's lists of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties" and the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2009, Synchronicity was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

You consider me the young apprentice

Caught between the Scylla and Charibdes

Hypnotized by you if I should linger

Staring at the ring around your finger

 

I have only come here seeking knowledge

Things they would not teach me of in college

I can see the destiny you sold turned into a shining band of gold

 

I'll be wrapped around your finger

I'll be wrapped around your finger

Mephistopheles is not your name

I know what you're up to just the same

I will listen hard to your tuition

You will see it come to its fruition

I'll be wrapped around your finger

I'll be wrapped around your finger

 

Devil and the deep blue sea behind me

Vanish in the air you'll never find me

I will turn your face to alabaster

When you'll find your servant is your master

 

You'll be wrapped around my finger

You'll be wrapped around my finger

You'll be wrapped around my finger.