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"Next to You" is a song written by Sting and recorded by The Police as the opening track on their debut album Outlandos d'Amour in 1978.[3]
| "Next to You" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Police | |
| from the album Outlandos d'Amour | |
| Released | 2 November 1978 |
| Recorded | 1978 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:50 |
| Label | A&M |
| Songwriter(s) | Sting |
| Producer(s) | The Police |
| Music video | |
| "Next to You" on YouTube | |
The band performed the song regularly on its early tours, and Sting later included it during his "Broken Music" tour in 2005–2006. It was the song performed for the second encore during The Police's 2007 Reunion tour. In the Paris show (on 29 September), former band member Henry Padovani joined the band on stage to play this song. "Next to You" is the last song The Police played live together.
When Sting originally presented the song to his bandmates, they felt it was neither aggressive nor political enough for the band's early punk sensibility. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland suggested replacing the lyrics, with Summers offering "I'm going to take a gun to you". Sting vetoed this and kept his original love song lyrics instead. The song also includes a slide guitar solo which Copeland dismissed as "old wave," yet Summers said in 2000 that he was still getting letters "about that brilliant slide guitar solo".[4]
The Offspring version
editThe American punk band the Offspring recorded a cover version of this song as one of the two singles for their Greatest Hits album along with "Can't Repeat". It's the band's only song to feature drummer Atom Willard. "Next to You" was released as a single to promote Greatest Hits and it peaked at No. 29 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.[5]
| "Next to You" | |
|---|---|
| Promotional single by The Offspring | |
| from the album Greatest Hits | |
| Written | Sting |
| Released | 21 June 2005[6] |
| Recorded | 2005 |
| Genre | Punk rock |
| Length | 2:39 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Sting |
| Producer(s) | Jerry Finn |
Personnel
editThe Offspring
edit- Dexter Holland – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar
- Noodles – lead guitar, backing vocals
- Greg K. – bass, backing vocals
- Atom Willard – drums
References
edit- ^ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1978". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. pp. 348–349. ISBN 9781493064601.
- ^ True, Chris. "Next to You by The Police - Track Info - AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ Prato, Greg. "The Police – Outlandos d'Amour". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ "Sting > News > Revolver". Revolver. Spring 2000. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ "Offspring Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
- ^ Next To You, retrieved 28 December 2023