Wrapped Around Your Finger
Encyclopedia
"Wrapped Around Your Finger" is the second UK single from The Police
's 1983 album Synchronicity. It was released worldwide by A&M Records
and featured non-album track "Someone To Talk To" as a b-side.
Like other Police songs from this period, it features mythological and literary references, including the Scylla and Charybdis
monsters of Greek mythology, and the German legend of Faust
. It has a relatively slow, almost foreboding feel in the beginning verses, modulating to evoke a lighter, triumphant feel during the chorus. It reached number 7 in the UK charts in July 1983 and was the fourth single from Synchronicity to chart in the US
, making it to #8 on the Billboard
chart in March 1984.
. Andy Summers is shown playing an acoustic guitar, an instrument never used in any of the Police's recordings.
The video was directed by Godley & Creme
.
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
's 1983 album Synchronicity. It was released worldwide by A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
and featured non-album track "Someone To Talk To" as a b-side.
Like other Police songs from this period, it features mythological and literary references, including the Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla and Charybdis
Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology. Several other idioms, such as "on the horns of a dilemma", "between the devil and the deep blue sea", and "between a rock and a hard place" express the same meaning of "having to choose between two evils".-The myth and...
monsters of Greek mythology, and the German legend of Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
. It has a relatively slow, almost foreboding feel in the beginning verses, modulating to evoke a lighter, triumphant feel during the chorus. It reached number 7 in the UK charts in July 1983 and was the fourth single from Synchronicity to chart in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, making it to #8 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart in March 1984.
Music video
The music video furthers the ethereal feeling the song gives off, by having footage of the band performing in a candle-lit, gloomy room, interspersed with scenes of Sting running among tall candlesticks arranged in a sort of mazeMaze
A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...
. Andy Summers is shown playing an acoustic guitar, an instrument never used in any of the Police's recordings.
The video was directed by Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme were an English pop music duo composed of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing albums as a duo after splitting from the pop band 10cc. In 1979 they directed their first music video for their own single "An Englishman in New York"...
.
Cover versions
- On the album Policia! - A Tribute to the Police, the metalcoreMetalcoreMetalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...
band UnderoathUnderoathUnderoath is an American Christian metalcore band from Tampa, Florida. Founded by Dallas Taylor and Luke Morton on November 30, 1997 in Ocala, Florida, subsequently its additional members were from Tampa, Florida...
recorded this song. - Brazilian alternative rock band SkankSkank (band)Skank is a Brazilian rock/reggae band, begun in 1991, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. , they had sold approximately 5,200,000 copies of their albums...
played an upbeat version of this song in Spanish language, titled "Estaré Prendido En Tus Dedos" ("I'll Be Bound to Your Fingers"), on their live album Skank MTV ao vivo. - Dutch alternative rock/grunge band Green LizardGreen LizardGreen Lizard is a band from Tilburg, Netherlands that plays rock and roll, with influences from grunge, punk, hardrock and metal.-Past members:* Jasper Dankaart - drummer* Jan-Jaap Onverwagt - bassist...
did a cover version on their debut album Identity in 2000. - Tori AmosTori AmosTori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
has covered this in concert several times with an intricate piano-only arrangement of the song. One of the versions is included in the bootleg Under The Covers With Tori. - Bob Belden, Dianne Reeves & John Scofield covered this song.
- The album Punk Goes 80s includes a cover by BrazilBrazil (band)Brazil was an Indiana rock band. Although the band eschews labels and are often categorized with the punk and post-hardcore music scenes, that is mostly due to association. The music itself is more akin to progressive rock with indie rock roots. The line-up as of 2006 release is Jonathon Newby,...
- 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...
mentions the song title in his song '83', with the lyric 'It's a bittersweet feeling hearing wrapped around your finger on the radio'. He also samples the song's verse riff as the outro for his performance of Assassin during live performances - Cyril NevilleCyril NevilleCyril Neville , is a percussionist and vocalist who first came to prominence as a member of his brother Art Neville's funky New Orleans-based band, The Meters...
covered this song on the album Spirits in the Material World: a Reggae Tribute to the Police.
Other uses
- NBCNBC SportsNBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...
used the intro and instrumental version of the song for a Super Bowl XXIIISuper Bowl XXIIISuper Bowl XXIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1989 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1988 regular season. This was the first Super Bowl hosted in the Miami area in 10 years, and the first in Miami not held...
pregame piece on San Francisco 49ersSan Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
coach Bill Walsh and Cincinnati BengalsCincinnati BengalsThe Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...
coach (and former Walsh assistant) Sam WycheSam WycheSamuel David "Sam" Wyche is a former American football player and head coach, who is best known as the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL...
.
Personnel
- Sting - bass guitar, keyboards, lead and backing vocals on "Wrapped Around Your Finger", saxophone on "Someone to Talk To"
- 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...
- guitar, lead and backing vocals on "Someone To Talk To", effects - 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
7": A&M / AM 127 (UK)
- "Wrapped Around Your Finger" - 5:07
- "Someone To Talk To" - 3:08
- also released on picture disc (AMP127). One per member.
12": A&M / AMX 127 (UK)
- "Wrapped Around Your Finger" - 5:07
- "Someone To Talk To" - 3:08
- "Message In A Bottle" (Live) - 4:52
- "I Burn For You" - 4:50
12": A&M / SP17264 (US)
- "Wrapped Around Your Finger" - 5:07
- "Wrapped Around Your Finger" (Live) - 5:21
- "Murder By Numbers" - 4:37
- "Someone To Talk To" - 3:08
- US promo 12"