Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Encyclopedia
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is a song by British rock group The Police from their album Ghost in the Machine. It was also a hit single
that reached the top of the charts in the United Kingdom
in November 1981 and hit number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
chart that same year.
album Strontium 90: Police Academy
. The piano part was added by session keyboardist Jean Roussel, whom Sting invited to play on the track against the wishes of his bandmates Andy Summers
and Stewart Copeland
.
Sting reprised the lyrics of the second verse to the end of the song "O My God" issued on the band's next album. These lyrics were repeated once more in "Seven Days" on Sting's solo album Ten Summoner's Tales
.
"Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met?
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet."
, The Office episode entitled Phyllis' Wedding in Season 3 and in the 2005 film Bewitched.
The song was referenced in the video game Warcraft II, where the cheat code "every little thing she does" instantly gives the player all magic-related upgrades.
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
that reached the top of the charts in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in November 1981 and hit number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart that same year.
Content
Although recorded in 1981, Sting wrote the song as early as 1976. An early (1977) demo of the song can be heard on the Strontium 90Strontium 90 (band)
Strontium 90 was the name of a short-lived 1977 British band with members Mike Howlett , Sting , Stewart Copeland , and Andy Summers...
album Strontium 90: Police Academy
Strontium 90: Police Academy
Strontium 90: Police Academy is a music album by Strontium 90, released by Mike Howlett in 1997. This album consists of live tracks recorded at Gong's reunion concert in Paris on 28 May 1977, five studio tracks recorded in London just before the concert, and Sting's solo demo of "Every Little Thing...
. The piano part was added by session keyboardist Jean Roussel, whom Sting invited to play on the track against the wishes of his bandmates Andy Summers
Andy Summers
Andy Summers is an English guitarist born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. Best known as the guitarist for rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed...
and Stewart Copeland
Stewart Copeland
Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
.
Sting reprised the lyrics of the second verse to the end of the song "O My God" issued on the band's next album. These lyrics were repeated once more in "Seven Days" on Sting's solo album Ten Summoner's Tales
Ten Summoner's Tales
Ten Summoner's Tales is the fourth solo studio album by the rock musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his given name, Gordon Sumner, and a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the summoner...
.
"Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met?
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet."
Performance credits
- Sting - bass guitar, lead and backing vocals
- Andy SummersAndy SummersAndy Summers is an English guitarist born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. Best known as the guitarist for rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed...
- guitars - Stewart CopelandStewart CopelandStewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
- drums - Jean Roussel - piano, synthesiser
7": A&M / AMS 8174 (UK)
- "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" - 3:58
- "Flexible Strategies" - 3:44
Charts
| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 1 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 7 |
| Norway VG-lista VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
5 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Tracks | 1 |
Cover versions
- The ShadowsThe ShadowsThe Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
covered the song on their 1990 album Reflection. - The Celtic/Folk duo Jay and Abby Michaels - The Harper and The Minstrel performed the song as an acoustic ballad on their 2008 album "For A Moment".
- The American rock band RaRa (U.S. band)Ra is an American alternative metal band from Los Angeles, California, taking their name from the Egyptian sun god. The band has been around since the 1990s, but did not actually evolve into its current form until 2002...
covered the song on their 2005 album DualityDuality (Ra album)Duality is a 2005 album from the band Ra. The style from this album has noticeably changed since Ra's debut album of "From One". The album boasts a hard rock and medolic vibe whereas their first album had more of a nu-metal feel. The middle-eastern influences in the CD are still present, but are...
. - Shawn ColvinShawn ColvinShawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
recorded the song (albeit with an appropriate pronoun change) on her 1994 Grammy-nominated album Cover Girl. - John MayerJohn MayerJohn Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
included the first few lines of the song while playing his hit "Your Body Is a Wonderland" on the live compilation Live at the X Lounge IV. - American soulSoul musicSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
pianist John LegendJohn LegendJohn Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...
borrowed the instrumentation from the verses on his collaboration, "Around My Way" with BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
MC Talib KweliTalib KweliTalib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
. - Harlem rapper Jim Jones sampled the instrumentation to make his own version of "Around My Way" with Max B.
- John BarrowmanJohn BarrowmanJohn Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
covered the song on his album, Another SideAnother Side (John Barrowman album)Another Side is an album released on the 12 November 2007 by John Barrowman. The album is made up entirely of cover versions of popular songs made famous by other artists...
, in 2007. - The NylonsThe NylonsThe Nylons are an a cappella group founded in 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Best known for their covers of The Turtles' "Happy Together", Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", and The Tokens' version of the traditional "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"....
covered the song on their a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
album, Play On, released in 2002. - Julie Collings released the song on her Don't EP in 2007, and her version was featured on CovervilleCovervilleCoverville is a podcast featuring unusual covers of pop, rock and country songs by new and established performers. The show is produced and hosted by Brian Ibbott out of his home in Arvada, Colorado...
episode 325. - FilipinoFilipino peopleThe Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
acoustic band MYMPMYMPM.Y.M.P. is an acoustic band act from the Philippines, which consists of five members. Their career started when Raymond Ryan, a station manager of iFm watched one of their gigs, and met up with a producer to produce their 2003 debut album, Soulful Acoustic, which has since been certified...
covered the song in 2003, retitled "Every Little Thing He Does Is Magic", on their album Soulful AcousticSoulful AcousticSoulful Acoustic is a music album of Philippine acoustic band MYMP . It was released under Ivory Records.-Track listing and durations:#"A Little Bit" ...
. - MashupMashup (music)A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
artist Girl TalkGirl Talk (musician)Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
used a sample from this song in his 2008 CD Feed the AnimalsFeed the AnimalsFeed the Animals is the fourth album by Girl Talk , released on Illegal Art in 2008. It is composed almost entirely of samples taken from other artists' songs, plus minor original instrumentation by Girl Talk...
. - Mitchel MussoMitchel MussoMitchel Tate Musso is an American actor, singer-songwriter and musician. Musso is best known for his three Disney Channel roles as Oliver Oken in the Disney Channel sitcom, Hannah Montana, Jeremy Johnson in the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb and his role as King Brady in the...
covered the song for Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place soundtrackWizards of Waverly Place (soundtrack)- Bonus content :Bonus content for the physical CD for Wizards of Waverly Place includes exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with Gomez and also the new music video for "Magic".-International Release:...
. - The song appears on ¡Policia! - A Tribute to the Police, released by The Militia GroupThe Militia Group-History:The Militia Group was founded in 1998 by Chad Pearson as a booking agency, booking for artists such as Slick Shoes, Craig's Brother, Dogwood, twothirtyeight, Acceptance, and Element 101. Rory Felton and Chad Pearson partnered in 2000 to turn the booking agency into a record company...
in 2005. It was performed by Anadivine. - Jazz fusionJazz fusionJazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
guitarist Lee RitenourLee RitenourLee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...
covered the song from the 2005 album "Rit's House." - A version, called Magic, by the Black Eyed Peas was done for Legally BlondeLegally BlondeLegally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and produced by Marc E. Platt...
and can be found on the movie's soundtrack.
Popular culture
The song appears in the video game Karaoke Revolution Party and Lego Rock BandLego Rock Band
Lego Rock Band is a music video game and part of the Rock Band series developed by Harmonix Music Systems, but also incorporates elements from other Lego video games as developed by Traveller's Tales. The game is published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and MTV Games...
, The Office episode entitled Phyllis' Wedding in Season 3 and in the 2005 film Bewitched.
The song was referenced in the video game Warcraft II, where the cheat code "every little thing she does" instantly gives the player all magic-related upgrades.
See also
- List of European number-one hits of 1981
- List of number-one singles from the 1980s (UK)
- List of number-one mainstream rock hits (United States)