What a showcase for Copeland in the breaks between the verses.  Sublime.

Oh man,

I saw them at "Old Man River's" in Avondale, LA (Louisiana NOT Los Angeles) in the late '70's.  

The Cold opened for them.

It was an awesome show.

Fascinating dive into the construction and production of this song, including interviews with all three Police-men:

YouTube: What Makes This Song Great? "Walking on the Moon" The Police

 Sofa_King wrote:

I will never forgive you. Never.

I was just marveling at the sensitivity of Mr. Copeland’s feet 🦶🏽 incredible neuromotor control and coordination to soften subsequent bass hits 🤯 ?!

Sublime 😌 rhythmic textures. 

I just came across this version, it's pretty interesting how many sounds one musical instrument (banjo in this case) can make when one uses different strings (or none at all, for that matter)

All of the early Police albums were just freaking excellent.  I didn't much care for Synchronicity in 1983, when they went fully mainstream... everything from that point on just sounded too bland.

 xrdstv wrote:
Cool!  Thank You for the info!

 rKokon wrote:


Sorry for the late response... ;-)

When I did a TV interview with Copeland on my TV talk show, he told me (and my viewing audience) that his style was actually not reggae influenced as many believed. His influence was actually a (Lebanese) "mountain nomadic  rhythm with the silence in the <pause> third beat." 

So there, all is back to equilibrium with the finger wagging ending here and now. lol

I have the video to prove it... 

Stewart Copeland! One of my favorite percussionists ever!

The Reunion Tour ... ~May 2008 ... lawn seats w/ my lovely wife at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands TX.  Concert starts off with Elvis Costello in top form. As the concert progresses through a not-too-hot-evening, the moon rises in a crystal clear sky over the Pavilion as The Police are knocking it out of the park! Fantastic concert, fond memories!

 eileenomurphy wrote:
Isn't everything here about opinions? That's what comments are for. Each time this track plays, imagine Sting's head on the body of a chicken. There, just lived rent-free in your mind for 5 seconds, lol.

Life is strange....I just switched over from watching the last man to walk on the moon being interviewed and this is playing....my mind is officially blown!!

Listened to this album as a 10 year old with my best mate and we were on the moon right there with Sting, Andy and Stewart

 maxvonevil wrote:


You are entitled to your opinion! But, as you stated, a LOT of RP listeners might disagree with you. To each, their own! I personally feel that that this tune is Great!  

 obankenobi wrote:
Same here in NYC at the Hayden Planetarium in 1980

Brings back great memories.

the fact that I heard this cranking at a San Francisco planetarium laser light show in high school when the entire dome was filled with haze means its imprinted on me for life.  The Police at their finest 

How many songs inspire comments that focus almost entirely on the exquisite virtuosity of the drummer…?! Completely justifiable in Mr. Copeland’s case!

Against popular opinion IMHO this is not one of those songs that get better with age. At this point Sting's voice is is beginning to to sound like a chicken: "Squawk-squawk-squaaaaaawk-squawk walking on the moon."

My favourite drummer at his absolute best, he is so good

without Copeland's drumming this song would not be that great

 redeyespy wrote:
 
@redeyespy for the win

 kcar wrote:
 
Any non-members?

oh god, Copeland's drumming, man's a genius

 creekgirl wrote:
 
On point until you use it as  a reason to dis modern music.

 maxvonevil wrote:
please don't show us video of your butt hole. Thank you.

Squaaack squaaak squack squaaak moon

The Infamous Stringdusters  did a great  cover of this.

Great song, but my comment goes out to the album as a whole.  To me, even though they had a few other great albums, this one comes out on top.  None of the cheese of "every breath," but not as amateurish as their first.  This was the high point, though it was pretty much a mesa afer that.

I read on Facebook today that Sting was kidnapped and The Police have no lead.

This is the song that keeps me alive. I have a personal connection to Armstrong and I'm a huge star gazing planetary fan.

This was the song I played to celebrate the Giants winning the world series for the first time ever back in 2010. Giants steps, we were all walking on the moon back then, and in 2012 and 2014 too.

 mrtuba9 wrote:
 

Probably, but it would only take 1/7 the number of one-legged hops to get back to the space craft.

 Marr wrote:
 

Dude, I had some moments like that, walking home from that certain special girl's house, a number of years ago. I'll never forget it. Time of your life, eh kid?

So simple. Brilliantly crafted single. The atmosphere to the mix is the best bit about this tune to my ears.

Definitely brings me back....way back. &#% I’m old!

 wgsu_1978 wrote:
 

I'm with you on your average, this is an 8 for me, maybe 6+2 for the skillful drumming....Long Live RP!!

The sound the sound the sound  Perfect

Is it easy to break a leg walking on the moon?? 

I so agree about Copeland.  Would love to hear a voice other than Sting's here.

1000594710 wrote:
 

 Hannio wrote: 
Sadly, I seem to hear it every day here on Rp.
Better than hearing Message in a Bottle  or  Roxanne I guess.

 rdo wrote: 

Lucky!!! 

                                                                        Sky is the limit.
On the Moon, since there is no air, sound cannot travel above the surface. So, there are no sounds on the surface of the Moon, and I don't worry about neighbors

Played and sang this song endlessly once. Then probably a 9; now a 7.

The most perfect rock/reggae/jazz band ever! And a great song about falling in love

9, mostly because of Copeland's amazing drumming.

 kcar wrote: 
I would ban you kcar.  Cyber-stalking is against the law in some places.  You threatened to "hunt me down" and kill me. I really think you are mentally disturbed.  

Love this song...

I never threatened to hunt down and kill any RP member.  

 

......Keep it up!.......

what an amazing vibe they achieved with this ... ahhh

ah its 1979? it's very cold out and my boyfriend is going to Africa

  ....... great band, has to be a BIG FAT 9

 kcar wrote: 
Move on honey...

One of the best basslines E.V.E.R.

Bill, did you hit hour head today? The Police, Moody Blues, Elton John, Talking Heads, etc, I feel like I'm back in high school 1977!
Good to hear Echo, The Heavy and the likes! 

 drictor wrote: 
drictor:  Your comment and location brought a pleasant little tingle.

For me, this song is a tiny camper-trailer parked in the US Navy lot in Driggs, ID, so smoke-filled I'm surprised we didn't die from lack of oxygen, as we anticipated how tonight's flurry will look in the morning -- when the lifts opened at Grand Targhee.  We stayed in those trailers a lot during the winter of 1978-1979, skiing one of the least-well-known powder factories in the US of A, talking about neutron cross sections of absorption and listening to the Police.

Hope tourists haven't ruined the Valley .... 

 MiracleDrug wrote: 
Your check is in the mail MiracleDrug, thanks.

 fiddler wrote: 
Very well said.  Thanks!

Kick drum, rim shots, and that hi-hat...then exactly just two snare hits in the whole thing. Andy and Sting - sparse as well. Then through today, shows how such restraint is truly worthwhile. For me, this song has always been The Police's equilateral triangle. 

 resemblesThe Shins music 

I'm loving Mr. Copeland's incredible timing, the ingenious multiple rhythms and textures of sound.  Inspired and ambitious, this song has a billion times more quality than today's tendency to just set a rhythm on an electronic keyboard.  That's why it's still fresh today and beyond.

There are some songs that I always catch in the rotation.  This one is played twice a month, and I hear it exactly twice a month each month. 

no comment ! it si talking it self ;)

 oldsaxon wrote: 

https://soundological.blogspot.com/2008/09/byron-lee-dragonaires-first-class-with.html
https://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-Reggae.html
https://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/mighty-diamonds/

 Sasha2001 wrote: 
As they might say at Wikiland..."This statement requires a citation"

I saw them play this song in a little cinema, the St. Denis, in Montreal, just after Roxanne hit the airwaves.   A precious memory!  This song (and "Message in a Bottle", of course) stood out above the others.  So imaginative and energizing.

They came out onto a very plain, almost barren stage in boiler-man suits, bouncing like they were on pogo sticks.  Weird thing to do but, with that, they grabbed the audience from the first minute, and never let go 'til the end.  It's no surprise at all they grew so big, so fast.

                   

                      

                          

                         

 Bazooka wrote:  

 fredriley wrote:  
I suppose it comes down to what one's definition of "timeless" is.  If one means "still relevant" after many years, then that's one thing.  If one means "transcending time" or "not of a specific time", then that's something else.

 nate917 wrote: 
What about Jamaican guys trying to sing like poor African Americans from Detroit? Because that's what they were trying to sound like.

Back in college, a long time ago, walking home after lining up a date with a girl I was infatuated with — this summed it all up!  Still reminds me of that day.

 AliGator wrote: 
Did anyone catch and spank you for that?...

And add me to the "to me this is timeless enough that I'll be grooving to it while rockin' the walker" crowd...

 Poacher wrote: 
Def Leppard would probably hire you.

*ducks and runs*

 fredriley wrote: 
Well I don't know about Mozart but if it's anything like the music of today, what's timeless is determined by people who weren't there, reading old issues of Billboard and deciding that "Don't You Forget About Me" and "One Thing Leads to Another" are the best the 80s have to offer.

 Bazooka wrote: 
I don't think any music is timeless. Mozart has lasted centuries, Monteverdi even longer, so they have some claim to longevity. It's rather early to extend such claims to recent rock music. By all means love a group to bits, of course, but only in a small minority of cases will the music have any longevity, and I'm not sure that the Police are such a case, influential as they were.

All hail Mr Copeland. Utter, utter genius drumming on a brilliant track. I don't envy many things but if I had to choose one envy it would be the ability of Mr C. I'd give my right arm for his talent. . . no, wait. . . damn - that won't work.

 Bazooka wrote: 

Timeless
that is exactly that

I hope my legs don't break.

Yes, more Police please.

What makes music timeless? I'd like to call this that.

Not one of their most memorable or powerful songs, but still good fun.

 stephw wrote: 
As others have stated, in the US it was Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles.

 TerryS wrote: 

I can also remember "Money for Nothing" being the first video playing on MTV, and even though I was in Halifax, Canada, it was MTV U.S. broadcasting so I imagine everyone saw the same thing wherever they were!

Talk about a moment..My first date, I went to Laserium @ gates planetarium..got courage to put arm around my beauty when this song came on in the darkness.  They just started spinning the night sky, thousands of stars, spinning around, fast.  Me looking up, arm around a girl for the first time, butterflies in stomach, spinning in a starfield.  Walking on the moon,oh yea, I was there.  Then I threw up.

Overuse of a nice bass riff. This sounds like a lazy attempt of making a tune out of nothing. Lyrics are banal too. Though I admit that I do in fact like the tune...its nothing more than background nostalgia to me.

Can´t  stand them, and I`m not sorry.

d r i l le

 Randomax wrote: 
Depends where you grew up and which MTV you watched....

...
"Money for Nothing," which was the first video ever to be played on MTV in Britain. It was also the first compact disc to sell a million copies and is largely credited for launching the CD format as it was also one of the first DDD
  TS

 Marr wrote: 
What a kuhl memory moment to share!  It's a total visual and visceral.  I see you wreathed in fog of breath, beaming in your own moonlit moment!....

 nate917 wrote: 
What?

 nate917 wrote: 

.... Jamaican accents?

I just can't handle rich white guys pretending to have Jamaican accents.  I think it's the hallmark of someone who takes himself way too seriously, and therefore screams out for a pie in the face.

In my trousers - walking on the moon.

I had a total moment with this song many years ago. I was, in fact, walking home from her house late, late at night after it had snowed heavily. I was the only moving thing out and the snow muffled all noise except the sound of my feet crunching through it. And I was in such a happy state that even the cold, long walk home ahead of me was as nothing. It felt very much like walking on the moon and this song naturally popped into my head. I found myself singing it (with steaming breath) all the way home. That moment in time (as opposed to the girlfriend herself) still comes to mind whenever I hear this song and puts a little smile on my face.

hey, I just realized no one's home. I can turn it up!

/seventeen again

Yesterday I was listening to this:  https://www.archive.org/details/umelt2009-09-19.main.km184.flac16

The mighty U-Melt dropped the entire Sychronicity album in the middle of their set at a festy.  Pretty neat.  I'm seeing them in Albany Halloween.

 Hannio wrote: 
Even on the Moon.

parrothead wrote:
My brother brought home Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtle when it came out. At the end of one of the songs ... Love is the 7th Wave is the one ... the lyrics go like this:

Every ripple on the ocean
Every leaf on every tree
Every sand dune in the desert
Every breath you take with me
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every cake you bake
Every leg you break

Always cracked me up that he mocked that stupid song in another one.

very atmospheric as all police songs

Yep, talented lot these three are... I remember reading a review years and years ago of one of their very early live shows in the U.S. in "Skateboarder" magazine of all places and as the crowd yelled "play Pipeline!" Sting and Co. obliged by ripping into a raucous version of the Chantays surf classic. 

A feel good song.

 swruch wrote: 
Ah, yes...I remember flipping channels and there was this strange thing called a music video playing on some new station...it was "Video killed the radio star".....ironic title it turned out.  Didn't realize then that I was watching the very 1st video on MTv....

Brings back memories of watching MTv in the early days - when they
had less than 24 hours worth of videos in the rotation.  Mark Goodman,
Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood... The Buggles.... etc., etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltUiKvNsgJ0

Thank you Bill! "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."  It's the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind"  I don't know if it's been a giant leap for mankind, but for a kid watching Neil Armstrong step onto the Moon it was amazing.

Probably my favorite Police song ... go Andy! 

walking on walking on the moon tun tun tun

La Police! vous avez demandé la Police ! Un son pur et juste, mélange rock/reggae, une trouvaille !
En france , le groupe RAFT, dans les années 80 , etait aussi "créatif" et original avec un de leur tube "yaka dansé"

God I love this tune —- the highest level of musicianship, the "up" vibe.

 superfido wrote: 
No doubt anything they want after their take from the mountain of loot made on the reunion tour.

 kaybee wrote: 
You are absolutly right, great talent here. The problem here with me, I can't stand one tune they ever did. Every Breath You Take, I may have the title wrong, was the only tune by them that I can tolorate and I'm sick of it thanks to FM radio. I was born at the right time. These guys where huge in high school. I just never got it and I still don't. For the record, I was not big on Buffet either in high school, but he has grown on me through the years.....Don't let Jimmy know that   

 jjbix wrote: 
Got to ask you, Why are you listening to "media outlets" (Code for local radio) any way? You looking to buy a used car or something?  

You should know they are canned and researched to the lowest common denominator and rotated and regurgitated every two and a half hours. It looks like "WOM" has only run about two times on RP in the last month and same the month before. (Guesstimate!)

Being an old timer, by most standards...and probably a bigger new music fan than most, cause I had to play this tune on the radio for nearly twenty years myself. I still dig a great song once and a while and WOM is a great song. The thing that cured me of hearing the same shit over and over day in and day out, hour after hour, was to get the hell out of the radio business and stop listening to the radio shit on "media outlets". Thank god for streaming billy boy from RP and mp3's!

Got clue? I did!


P.S. peter_james_bond...I am digging your pic brother! (below)
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