1978. On a 747 flying between Sydney, Australia & Wellington, Aotearoa. Headphones on. Not a cloud anywhere to be seen as I gazed out the window. This song just enveloped me. I was 20 years old. One of my most precious memories.
Pro Tools makes amateurs think they're pros, and think their bedroom is Abbey Road. Some great artists can't produce to save their lives, but their results are actually released.
As an amateur, I can tell, that it’s hard work, to get my ideas into something like a song or track. Struggling with my lack of ability to master my instruments, and to master the software. But it’s fun anyway.
Agreed. I've been playing music for nearly 40 years. I started off by playing covers that I had to learn from cassette tapes. That meant a lot of focusing on parts, play, rewind, play, and repeat. And because of that I've developed my ear to pick up a lot of things most listeners don't hear. It's actually a very different way to listen to music and often makes it difficult to listen to songs as a whole. That said, with this series that Rick does, I notice how much I still miss.
@@melrupinski88 Yes! Thats exactly what i was thinking recently. What’s really great about the new wave sound, is the space that exists in between the notes. Makes it feel dark, deep and blue-ish. Wonderful
If you watch his Rick Beato interview, he had no idea what Sting and Andy were doing half the time, so he mostly did his own thing and they tended to like it.
@@sundaynightdrunk /\ Facts! But seriously, Copeland, in terms of style, is really up there, with Bonham, The Professor, Neale Peart, Jeff Porcaro and Bernard Purdy. At least, in my lifetime, those are the top rated that come to me as really standing out.
Living in rural Denmark without music stores in the nearest village and Danish State Radio as the only source (on rare occasions) to listen to new music, at 14 years of age I spent some of the first money I earned working at a local car repair shop to buy a transistor radio. And when everyone else on the farm was sleeping, I'd lie i bed, tuning in to Radio Luxembourg. "Walking on the Moon" was one of the first things I heard. It was a revelation. Never heard anything like it. This wasn't your typical 3 or 4-chord pop or rock song. This was... Sophisticated!... Mysterious!... Same for Randy Crawford and the Crusaders playing "Street Life". All these new sounds I had never imagined. "Don't stop til you get enough" by Michael Jackson, "Cars" by Gary Numan, "Is she really going out with him?" by Joe Jackson and the for RL somewhat prophetic "Video Killed the Radio Star" by Buggles. All within the first few weeks of owning that Blaupunkt transistor radio. I've never smoked anything stronger than tobacco. But those few weeks to months, I was high as a kite!
Damn DUDE; I teared-up reading that! I was a snot-nosed latchkey kid in London at the time. Gary Newman and The Police changed my life, yeah and I LOVE Randy Crawford.
Radio Luxembourg brought forward entire generations of alternative and rock subcultures in former Yugoslavia in the time when western music couldn't be found on the radio or in record stores. Even though those generations were denied many of the freedoms we now take for granted, somehow they still had that joy of discovering music and connecting through music, which, for the most part today, is lost. Except for this channel, and this man right here, Rick.❤
Rick, The Police are the biggest music influence of my life. I decided to become a musician at 16 because of them and the Beatles. Twenty years on, I pay my morgage and my bills by singing opera, far away from home, where I started in my bedroom, listening to The Police and dreaming someday of jumping on the stage with my bass. God bless them, they motivated me all the way through my ups and downs. When I was listening to their music I could feel the energy of a rock band choesion, of art through adversity, of an immortal force that will live on, to quote Andy Summers, "long after the three Police members are all long gone". Sting came to one of my performances last year at the Salzburg Festival where I was singing right in front of him ... and Stewart liked and said "bravo" to my Acustic rendition of Walking on the Moon on Instagram. Not bad, for me, the little Italian who couldn't hold a note for dear life. Life is great, and music lasts a lifetime. Ciao from Austria!
Exactly.. That's the genius and discipline of musicians who put the arrangement and the song first, the musicians themselves are humble enough to see themselves as mere conduits to the song, as 'enablers' and 'facilitators' to the song, without ego getting in the way.
I have said for 40 years that the drumming in this song is as good as it gets. But I never knew WHY it was so good, or HOW they did it … until today. Thank you Rick for educating me, and a bigger thank you to Stewart Copeland for creating such magic.
In 1978/79 we saw the Police live at Bruce Stadium in Canberra. It was a warm spring evening, we were 'enhanced' and had superb sight and sound. Easilly 10,000+ in audience. They kicked off with Walking On The Moon. The whole place went deadset frikkin nuts. Two hours of bliss. One of the most joyous concerts I ever attended.
What makes this "what makes this song great" video even greater than others, is the fact that Rick has interviewed the three members of the band and has exclusive insights into the creation, recording and production. No one else can do this!
I can't believe "what makes this song great" is back! So awesome! Rick has an awesome ear, and he gives you the confidence to attempt to emulate him. Wow that Guitar tone!
Me and my daughter would sing together to this song when we were driving home from her gymnastics practice. I get tears in my eyes when I listen to this song because we had so much fun singing together with it.
These elder musicians who didn't fry their brains back in the day are so smart and technical- it's a master class whenever they speak and Rick is able to make it relatable.
Sting could have been made aware or heard someone like Vladimir Horovitz who was a Master in music being made by the space in-between the notes and can be perfectly seen in black and white by the compositions of Frederick Chopin who's compositions only come to life if space is made between the notes. Glenn Gould ( Bach Goldberg Variations).. Nigel Kennedy ( Vivaldi Seasons) these broke the mould.
Moving to bass in my current group after over 30 years playing guitar has taught me a lot about the value of space, especially in the low end. Nothing muddies up a song like the bass player carrying on like a coked-up Jaco Pastorius.
I remember standing in front of a stereo at Sears as an eight year old in 1979 listening to this for the first time and being totally confused and mesmerized.
Sting has said he was drunk in a hotel room when the riff came into his head. He started singing 'Walking round the room, ya, ya, walking round the room" - had to share, once you hear that - you never forget it.
The ‘Walking back from your house’ lyric was in reference to a thought about Stings previous girlfriend in Newcastle. He said in 2003 Deborah Anderson was my first real girlfriend...walking back from Deborah's house in those early days would eventually become a song, for being in love is to be relieved of gravity.
The Police were ahead of their time. So grateful each member sat with Rick Beato to talk music and song writing. Other bands would be wise to follow The Police, again.
Think about all the times you listened to this song back in the day, grinning ear to ear, singing (or playing) along, enjoying every minute of it. And then fast-forward to today where Rick explains why you were so happy. Greatest Tuesday ever...
But blueberry is saying they influenced the greatest LIVE band ever. And before you say U2, tell me, has U2 ever roasted 100’s of chickens as their backdrop and then gave the chickens to homeless shelters in every city they played?
@@RCAvhstapeI don’t know if you could truly say anyone influenced Neil Peart at that point, but I know he definitely took an interest in Stewart’s approach to drumming. It’s so amazingly cool that those two became such close friends later in life. The videos of them jamming at Stewart’s home studio are pure gold.
When I first heard this song I was 22 yrs. old. Of course I was at a party in 79, I looked around the group of people I was with and nobody reacted to this great song! I told myself I have to find some new friends. Thank You.
I cherish the memories of the day I saw The Police live. Not only that one but the ones that went from getting the tickets until the very evening of the concert, the anticipation. It was october 1983 and also Sting's birthday, there was a cake Andy pulled on stage and all the audience sang happy birthday to our idol. Memorable night
It's one of my favorite albums of all time. Message In A Bottle, Regatta de Blanc, Bring On The Night, Walking On The Moon and The Bed's Too Big Without You
45 years after Regatta came out -- it's still absolutely perfect. Everything about it. Stuart's drumming on Walking On The Moon -- Foundational, generational......I run out of adjectives. My 16 year old self remains speechless and grateful beyond words. Thank you, Mr. Beato, for interviewing all three.
It's my favorite POLICE song! And I'm so glad that you highlighted it! It's perfect absolutely freaking perfect. And nobody writes songs like this anymore which is a sad sad sad but you know when the police hit the stage I saw them at the tower theater. I've never seen anything like that in my life. They were a bright flame and that burns fast. I mean the Taurus pedals the echo all that stuff man it was bananas. And I was listening to return to forever and weather report and Billy Cobham and Stanley Clarke and all that stuff prior to the police hitting the stage. In high school we played Spain by Chick Corea so it took a lot to really shake me up. But that was the song for me. Thank you so much Rick Beato
It sounds as fresh, and as original, as it did in 1979, with each band member making his own distinctive contribution. Although relatively simple in its arrangement and production, it could only The Police. Rick's interviews were fascinating, often hilarious and very revealing of how on band struggled to contain so much talent.
“What’s amazing is that there is so much space in the arrangement.” Yes. I’m so glad to see this series come back, and this is a great song to kick-start it with. Thanks, Rick.
This is the song that got me 'into' The Police. I remember hearing it on the radio one night in 1979 and thinking, "Man, that's great!". Since then, The Police have been one of my favourite bands. Brilliant.
I dreamed of videos like this when I was a 15 year old listening to this on headphones, trying to figure out what The Police were doing to create this magic. Thank you, Rick!
One of my fav’ jam tunes by The Police: “Voices Inside My Head.” Soloing over it is fun, practicing sneaking in modalities. But I’ll even dance to it, over-and-over. I’ll even pass cars on the highway to it. It’s infectious!
Same with "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around", right after it. Zenyatta Mondatta is a great jamming album and "Voices..." is for sure one of the best tracks on it!
Oh man, on top of loving this series, this song, this band, this recording production, Rick Beato brings in clips of the Police band members talking about this song...its like a premium episode of What Makes This Song Great!
And there was 7 year old me in 1979, just thinking... "This song is cool!" Not having any idea how revolutionary it was or that I would still love it and The Police so much, 45 years later!
...and there was 18 year old me wondering if your legs could actually break walking on the moon, and also thinking what the heck is that guy doing on his drum set?
OMG... I'm an all time absolute Police fan... not a musician but good ear... I've listened Walking on the Moon thousands of times... and I never noticed the synth!! And their voices before the start... amazing. Thank you so much
One of the best lines from an 80's song "walking home from your house....walking on the moon" I see him coming back from her house and you really like her and she really likes you and it's so early in your relationship...there is so much hesitation in the song that creates that sustained tension...he met Trudy walking down the street...and lived literally right next to her in 77...
My favorite Police song by far- an incredible amount of space, air, whatever you want to call it. Copeland literally uses the full snare just 2 times in the entire song, the cross stick stuff notwithstanding. Amazing- thanks Rick.
I fell in love with the Police after Rick did ‘every little thing she does is magic’ all the way back at the beginning of his Channel. Haven’t stopped listening to them since…so glad this is back
How I loved the Police was when I picked up "Ghost in the Machine" album, then saw them in concert that year. Blown away. I started listening to all of the albums of the three playing before Sting went solo. Reggatta de Blanc is one of my favorite albums.
Man, that song is one of my favorite jams. Once I was riding in my car blasting "Walking On The Moon", and after it ended my little cousin, who is seven, said "I like that song."
This album has the quality of time transportation. I remember where I was, what I was doing, who I was doing it with and just being pleased that I could dance with a big smile on my face, lost in the song …… Thank you Police.😊
Rick, I saw this tour in LA at the Hollywood Palladium in 1979. I was a Junior in High School. I was totally blown away by Stewart Copeland. I remember my friends and I work freaking out with enthusiasm on the drive home.
Such is the power of this song, I can still vividly remember the first time I heard it. I was nearly 19 and in work early , it was about 07:30 am and my boss and I were working away with the radio on. The DJ announced that this was the new Police single, which was being played on UK radio for the first time and the minute we heard it, my boss and I looked at each other and said, "this is effing brilliant". We were both heavily into our music and were blown away by the track. Even to this day, every time I hear it, I'm taken back to that morning and how I felt the first time I heard it.
I well remember when I was dancing to it (actually, I let its energy flow through me) in the 80s. And just a year ago, I was at a Sting concert with my 2 teenage children who were going wild just like me 40 years later. The joy, the power, the beauty of their music knows no barriers. No band has managed to cross generations as if time meant nothing. Then as now, The Police are simply a "stand alone band". 13:43
Merci de nous éclairer sur ces morceaux Légendaires. The Police traverse les années, leurs chansons toujours aussi fraîches et parfaites. 3 génies musicaux réunis pour illuminer nos vies. Il y a presque quelque chose de divin dans tout ça. Merci.
The most reggae song they did was "The Bed's Too Big Without You" from the same album. I'll never forget the first time I heard "Walking". I had convinced my mom to give me some money to buy Regatta de Blanc, and I was excitedly listening to it on the turntable. Before the first measure of Walking even finished, I was transfixed. It's so deeply mysterious, melodic, and rhythmic, I was just instantly hooked.
This brings back a flood of memories, 17 yrs old watching this song on MTV in my grandma's living room, wow. Life was so much more simple then, and I didn't quite realize how special the music was in the 70's and 80's. I always enjoyed The Police, Copeland's drumming was original and crazy good, Sting was one of the best vocalists ever, and Andy was an inspiration in my own playing.
Looking back to when this song came out, with cold and hot wars going on all over the world and killing and bombings every week in Northern Ireland along with almost everyone in my country (Republic of Ireland) being very poor, things were quite grim on the whole. But all this bad stuff washed over me as a 15 year old kid with all this amazing music coming out weekly but we just took it for granted at the time that this was just the way things were. Now I realise how lucky we were in many ways.
The creativity of that band was off the charts to the extent that they were really their own genre in that it was a fusion of so many. In 50 years time, their music will still hold up.
I remember the shock when I heard this song for the first time; the sophistication of every instrument line, yet the powerful, dreamy feeling. I never was interested in playing the guitar until that airy resounding cristal enigmatic Dm11 chord! Wow, a huge universe on itself! The drums, so obsessive, so elegant, like bouncing diamonds, the bass line so effortlessly efficient, that insolent voice tearing the space.. I think that song in particular defined my journey in music and still does!
5 ridiculously great albums released in about 4 1/2 years. Each one different, each one a masterpiece. Rick, you could do this kind of detailed breakdown on just about every track on every album. Genius. I also remember the video. At NASA with Stewart banging on the Saturn Rocket with drumsticks.
This was the song that made me a lifelong, die-hard Police fan. It also made me want to become a musician, and was the first bass line I ever learned as a kid. Every part is perfect. I still play or listen to this song regularly. Thank you Rick-and The Police!
That whole record is pure gold.
Actually it was Vinyl… 🥴
Yea honestly it blew me away in a way which not many albums do
Every song they made is pure gold.
Fixed it for you
Heck yea one of favorites to this day
maybe not “On any other day” lol but the other songs are amazing
It's great that Rick has interviewed all the Police, and not the other way around. 🤣
😂
Bravo 😂
The police would completely beato rick
Ba dum tss
@@Musicarbshey, that’s my story😂😂😂. Rick can’t have it. 😇
1978. On a 747 flying between Sydney, Australia & Wellington, Aotearoa. Headphones on. Not a cloud anywhere to be seen as I gazed out the window. This song just enveloped me. I was 20 years old. One of my most precious memories.
The atmosphere in this song is still unmatched.
Yes! I feel the same way about “Tea In The Sahara”.
Atmosphere?
I thought the song was called walking on the moon.
That guitar riff at the start is like a Time Machine. Straight back.
And when I think about all the hot trash making it in the radio today.....smdh.
The closest I could think of was ‘Dream Weaver’ (Gary Wright)
A good example of what Rick has always reminded viewers: "Before there were pro tools, there were pros." The Police were pros.
I hadn't heard this before. I love it. I'm gonna use this.
And before there was autotune, there were people IN tune..just sayin'..
Best quote ever
Pro Tools makes amateurs think they're pros, and think their bedroom is Abbey Road. Some great artists can't produce to save their lives, but their results are actually released.
As an amateur, I can tell, that it’s hard work, to get my ideas into something like a song or track. Struggling with my lack of ability to master my instruments, and to master the software. But it’s fun anyway.
Rick teaches me how to listen to songs I’ve heard hundreds of times before.
Agreed. I've been playing music for nearly 40 years. I started off by playing covers that I had to learn from cassette tapes. That meant a lot of focusing on parts, play, rewind, play, and repeat. And because of that I've developed my ear to pick up a lot of things most listeners don't hear. It's actually a very different way to listen to music and often makes it difficult to listen to songs as a whole. That said, with this series that Rick does, I notice how much I still miss.
The stark difference between "listening" and "hearing"
Rick teaches me that he and his fans idolize crap pop 'music' just like Orwell predicted would happen. Tavistock is real.
@@pharmerdavid1432 weird take but ok.
He finally brought back the series with one of the best bands ever
Respect 🙏🙏
...keep it up...
Reggie jazola
Amen!
@@robertmasteller6509 eeyo yo yo yo yoooo…
@@justinsayin3979heck yea I would love to see that
Modern songwriters could learn a lot by just studying what ISN'T in this track. The use of space is so refreshing in contrast to today's mixes.
Spot on, as a band, they had an uncanny knack for making the spaces between notes sound great too.
@@melrupinski88 Yes! Thats exactly what i was thinking recently. What’s really great about the new wave sound, is the space that exists in between the notes. Makes it feel dark, deep and blue-ish. Wonderful
Yeah!
Space is so important in pop, and underutilized. Like the second of silence in "Good Vibrations", before the final chorus.
Whole sections where all you really hear are the hats? Never happen today.
I'm 75 years old and it's one of my favourite songs. Have all police CDs.
I had all of their LPS back in the day.
Rick Beato belongs in the hall of Fame
No
He's in the Rochester Music Hall of Fame just got Inducted This Year
@@purplebondsaiyan2987 Ra-Cha-Cha
Hall of Fame is No longer worthy of the Best. Was-but not anymore
There should be a Beato Award.
Yeah, we need this series to never end.
Rick is a great interviewer... but I like the song is great series the best.
One a week please!!
@@flinx649 I like how he incorporated his interviews into the mix of this, made it even that much better!
True.
After all of these years, the music of the police still sound like magic
Abbbbsolutely ❤❤❤❤
Stewart Copeland's minimalist and highly, highly variable drumming is a masterclass on how to say more with less.
Less is definitely relative when you’re Talking about him cuz he was very busy in certain aspects
Uh what? Just the fact the man has a gong says Stuart is NOT a minimalist…..you’re thinking Ringo.
If you watch his Rick Beato interview, he had no idea what Sting and Andy were doing half the time, so he mostly did his own thing and they tended to like it.
i think him and jeff porcaro are the rawest drummers in the business
@@sundaynightdrunk /\ Facts! But seriously, Copeland, in terms of style, is really up there, with Bonham, The Professor, Neale Peart, Jeff Porcaro and Bernard Purdy. At least, in my lifetime, those are the top rated that come to me as really standing out.
Living in rural Denmark without music stores in the nearest village and Danish State Radio as the only source (on rare occasions) to listen to new music, at 14 years of age I spent some of the first money I earned working at a local car repair shop to buy a transistor radio. And when everyone else on the farm was sleeping, I'd lie i bed, tuning in to Radio Luxembourg. "Walking on the Moon" was one of the first things I heard. It was a revelation. Never heard anything like it. This wasn't your typical 3 or 4-chord pop or rock song. This was... Sophisticated!... Mysterious!... Same for Randy Crawford and the Crusaders playing "Street Life". All these new sounds I had never imagined. "Don't stop til you get enough" by Michael Jackson, "Cars" by Gary Numan, "Is she really going out with him?" by Joe Jackson and the for RL somewhat prophetic "Video Killed the Radio Star" by Buggles. All within the first few weeks of owning that Blaupunkt transistor radio. I've never smoked anything stronger than tobacco. But those few weeks to months, I was high as a kite!
Damn DUDE; I teared-up reading that! I was a snot-nosed latchkey kid in London at the time. Gary Newman and The Police changed my life, yeah and I LOVE Randy Crawford.
Radio Luxembourg brought forward entire generations of alternative and rock subcultures in former Yugoslavia in the time when western music couldn't be found on the radio or in record stores. Even though those generations were denied many of the freedoms we now take for granted, somehow they still had that joy of discovering music and connecting through music, which, for the most part today, is lost. Except for this channel, and this man right here, Rick.❤
Ohhh what GREAT memories! Randy Crawford is totally mag!
Meeee tooo!
*_Thank you so much_* for sharing that powerful experience of discovery and awe.
@@dancarter482
Ah... memories of RTL. "Sends magic through the air!"
I really don’t understand what Rick is talking about most of the time, but i still listen
Rick, The Police are the biggest music influence of my life. I decided to become a musician at 16 because of them and the Beatles. Twenty years on, I pay my morgage and my bills by singing opera, far away from home, where I started in my bedroom, listening to The Police and dreaming someday of jumping on the stage with my bass. God bless them, they motivated me all the way through my ups and downs. When I was listening to their music I could feel the energy of a rock band choesion, of art through adversity, of an immortal force that will live on, to quote Andy Summers, "long after the three Police members are all long gone". Sting came to one of my performances last year at the Salzburg Festival where I was singing right in front of him ... and Stewart liked and said "bravo" to my Acustic rendition of Walking on the Moon on Instagram. Not bad, for me, the little Italian who couldn't hold a note for dear life. Life is great, and music lasts a lifetime. Ciao from Austria!
Sting and the police are the reason I learned how to play bass guitar. Huge influence on me growing up. Amazing music.
Nice circle of life, ha❤
A lovely story
How can I become a pro opera singer
@@rachelar hard work, hard work... and some more hard work
Regatta de blanc is a masterpiece. Every song.
Exactly.
Love how every instrument has their own space, nobody is interfering with anyone else!
That's a good point, especially on such a sparse, uncluttered piece of music.
This song is all about space…
@@andercoyote4170😂
@@andercoyote4170 😏
Exactly.. That's the genius and discipline of musicians who put the arrangement and the song first, the musicians themselves are humble enough to see themselves as mere conduits to the song, as 'enablers' and 'facilitators' to the song, without ego getting in the way.
I have said for 40 years that the drumming in this song is as good as it gets. But I never knew WHY it was so good, or HOW they did it … until today. Thank you Rick for educating me, and a bigger thank you to Stewart Copeland for creating such magic.
In 1978/79 we saw the Police live at Bruce Stadium in Canberra. It was a warm spring evening, we were 'enhanced' and had superb sight and sound. Easilly 10,000+ in audience. They kicked off with Walking On The Moon. The whole place went deadset frikkin nuts. Two hours of bliss. One of the most joyous concerts I ever attended.
I love your comment and they certainly would be outstanding while enhanced
I saw them a Bruce stadium in March 1980. We won tickets from 2CC.
You can't beat a bit of enhancement sometimes Geoff 😎👍✌️
My first concert was the Police at Maddison Square Gardens when I was 7
Still fresh, 45 years down the road. Amazing.
That's the genius of Sting. His production doesn't age.
Glad to hear 'What makes this song great' is making a return :)
I like it when he says " did you hear that?" , then he singles out the track and I say " now I do" . then that part stands out more than anything else
What makes this "what makes this song great" video even greater than others, is the fact that Rick has interviewed the three members of the band and has exclusive insights into the creation, recording and production. No one else can do this!
My thoughts exactly.
I can't believe "what makes this song great" is back! So awesome! Rick has an awesome ear, and he gives you the confidence to attempt to emulate him. Wow that Guitar tone!
High school marching band trip through Italy in 1986, listened to this song maybe 100,000 times, on a yellow “Sports” Walkman. Good times.
Still have my Sports Walkman, i was cool when i got it for Christmas.
Was it the one they advertised to hang from the shower head? 😆
I had the same Sports Walkman back in Argentina in the same year! really good times!
Great time to be alive. Remember what it was like to go to a record store when a new album from a fav band came out? Pure joy!
Core memory
Me and my daughter would sing together to this song when we were driving home from her gymnastics practice. I get tears in my eyes when I listen to this song because we had so much fun singing together with it.
The drums on this song are so cool.
The bass on Walking on the Moon is just sublime, the drumming as well. Incredibly composed to say the least.
It was the second song I learned on bass and it's one of my favorites.
And the great Sting with his great and unique voice
@@demian900 of course! 😉🙌🏼
I had to figure out the baseline too… on the piano
These elder musicians who didn't fry their brains back in the day are so smart and technical- it's a master class whenever they speak and Rick is able to make it relatable.
A PERFECT comment!!!
I remember Sting one saying "it's not just about the notes you play, but the gaps in between". Perfectly demonstrated here. Wonderful band.
perfectly demonstrated on track bed's too big without you, I mean the gap left by the bass there is one whole measure!
Sting could have been made aware or heard someone like Vladimir Horovitz who was a Master in music being made by the space in-between the notes and can be perfectly seen in black and white by the compositions of Frederick Chopin who's compositions only come to life if space is made between the notes. Glenn Gould ( Bach Goldberg Variations).. Nigel Kennedy ( Vivaldi Seasons) these broke the mould.
Moving to bass in my current group after over 30 years playing guitar has taught me a lot about the value of space, especially in the low end. Nothing muddies up a song like the bass player carrying on like a coked-up Jaco Pastorius.
The speed at which I clicked on the notification….!
My all time fave Police song!!
Same here, I clicked on it and the video had zero comments, then tons of them within seconds!
Same!
Agree, one of my absolute favorites if not THE favorite track. There's just something about it! 🎸😎
Mine too! It's so chill and has a little bit of a nostalgic feel to it
My favorite Police song as well.
I remember standing in front of a stereo at Sears as an eight year old in 1979 listening to this for the first time and being totally confused and mesmerized.
Sting has said he was drunk in a hotel room when the riff came into his head. He started singing 'Walking round the room, ya, ya, walking round the room" - had to share, once you hear that - you never forget it.
Walking round, walking round the rooom
In Munich, apparently 😊
It’s an odd song. Unique to my ears.
I've been drunk lots of times and never devised anything this brilliant!
The ‘Walking back from your house’ lyric was in reference to a thought about Stings previous girlfriend in Newcastle. He said in 2003 Deborah Anderson was my first real girlfriend...walking back from Deborah's house in those early days would eventually become a song, for being in love is to be relieved of gravity.
That 1st chord Andy Summer plays is very similar to the opening chord for Hard Days Night
Was just thinking exact same thing
That hit me as well
Got on here to say the same
Singing: Giant steps are what you take and I've been working like a dog.
@@mikenicholson7465 bwahaha. That interview got me digging thru my old vinyl. Required a trip to the basement to retrieve this one
The Police were ahead of their time. So grateful each member sat with Rick Beato to talk music and song writing. Other bands would be wise to follow The Police, again.
Rick is like his own industry. As you say, every band that wants to remain relevant should contact Rick.
The Eagles have not entered the chat.
I'm obsessed with the Police and never noticed the synthesiser or piano before. Thank you for enlightening me Mr. beato.
My thought too! I've been listening to this song for 45 years, learned how to play it for a band I was in, and never noticed the synth!
I noticed the pad but never thought much of it, never noticed those sci fi noises before.
18:15 how could we have never noticed that warble! Incredible
Same here never knew
Think about all the times you listened to this song back in the day, grinning ear to ear, singing (or playing) along, enjoying every minute of it. And then fast-forward to today where Rick explains why you were so happy. Greatest Tuesday ever...
I remember when I first heard it on the radio at work and being instantly galvanized by the initial chord and drums. I still love the song
For me, it's the best drumming of Stewart's career. He does so much with so little.
so little? - he's playing 32nds.....(well the echo makes it sound like that...)
When a band influences Rush, you know they're something special :)
They influenced everyone! from U2 to Soda Stereo
But blueberry is saying they influenced the greatest LIVE band ever. And before you say U2, tell me, has U2 ever roasted 100’s of chickens as their backdrop and then gave the chickens to homeless shelters in every city they played?
@@AngelHadzi and Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Pearl Jam, even Van Halen (dirty water dog, Eddie himself told it)
Rush was a few years old as a band when the Police came around, but Alex Lifeson always pays attention to newer bands, and he was a huge Police fan.
@@RCAvhstapeI don’t know if you could truly say anyone influenced Neil Peart at that point, but I know he definitely took an interest in Stewart’s approach to drumming. It’s so amazingly cool that those two became such close friends later in life. The videos of them jamming at Stewart’s home studio are pure gold.
Thank the maker you have brought this series back, my god the internet has been a wasteland without this series.
One of my favorite Police songs of all time.
When I first heard this song I was 22 yrs. old. Of course I was at a party in 79, I looked around the group of people I was with and nobody reacted to this great song! I told myself I have to find some new friends. Thank You.
good call.
I don’t believe in perfection, but the Police’s music is perfect.
My friend , I agree completely with you. Perfect music = police.
Sublime perfection indeed!
What makes Rick great is his ability to discuss music in an interesting way
That album is a masterpiece, and that song elevates simplicity to an artform.
Bring it back! Don't ever stop making these!!!
This song represents a very, very special moment in contemporary music. Nothing quite like it before, or since.....
So glad to see this series back! Hearing Stewart Copeland isolated makes my entire week. 🥁
I cherish the memories of the day I saw The Police live. Not only that one but the ones that went from getting the tickets until the very evening of the concert, the anticipation. It was october 1983 and also Sting's birthday, there was a cake Andy pulled on stage and all the audience sang happy birthday to our idol. Memorable night
It's one of my favorite albums of all time. Message In A Bottle, Regatta de Blanc, Bring On The Night, Walking On The Moon and The Bed's Too Big Without You
45 years after Regatta came out -- it's still absolutely perfect. Everything about it. Stuart's drumming on Walking On The Moon -- Foundational, generational......I run out of adjectives. My 16 year old self remains speechless and grateful beyond words. Thank you, Mr. Beato, for interviewing all three.
I used to go out to the woods and light a fire and just listen...beautiful...peaceful...all mine. 😊
Please keep bringing this series back! I miss it so much!
Wow, all these years hearing this song and never noticed that synth. Beato, you are the best.
It's my favorite POLICE song! And I'm so glad that you highlighted it! It's perfect absolutely freaking perfect. And nobody writes songs like this anymore which is a sad sad sad but you know when the police hit the stage I saw them at the tower theater. I've never seen anything like that in my life. They were a bright flame and that burns fast. I mean the Taurus pedals the echo all that stuff man it was bananas. And I was listening to return to forever and weather report and Billy Cobham and Stanley Clarke and all that stuff prior to the police hitting the stage. In high school we played Spain by Chick Corea so it took a lot to really shake me up. But that was the song for me. Thank you so much Rick Beato
It sounds as fresh, and as original, as it did in 1979, with each band member making his own distinctive contribution. Although relatively simple in its arrangement and production, it could only The Police. Rick's interviews were fascinating, often hilarious and very revealing of how on band struggled to contain so much talent.
“What’s amazing is that there is so much space in the arrangement.” Yes. I’m so glad to see this series come back, and this is a great song to kick-start it with. Thanks, Rick.
This is some of the best quality content online.
Please more of this, Rick.
This is the song that got me 'into' The Police. I remember hearing it on the radio one night in 1979 and thinking, "Man, that's great!". Since then, The Police have been one of my favourite bands. Brilliant.
What makes this song great? The fact that Rick breaks it down for us only as Rick can!! Thank You!
I dreamed of videos like this when I was a 15 year old listening to this on headphones, trying to figure out what The Police were doing to create this magic. Thank you, Rick!
One of my fav’ jam tunes by The Police: “Voices Inside My Head.”
Soloing over it is fun, practicing sneaking in modalities.
But I’ll even dance to it, over-and-over.
I’ll even pass cars on the highway to it.
It’s infectious!
Same with "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around", right after it. Zenyatta Mondatta is a great jamming album and "Voices..." is for sure one of the best tracks on it!
Tschak……
Oh man, on top of loving this series, this song, this band, this recording production, Rick Beato brings in clips of the Police band members talking about this song...its like a premium episode of What Makes This Song Great!
I would bicycle through the tunnel of the Rijsmuseum in Amsterdam yelling out Police chants "E-Oh E-Oh Yo Yo" in 1980. Great reverb tunnel.
E-Oh E-Oh E-Yo-Yo……. 😊
Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo YEAAAAAAAH 🎉🎉🎉
Steinberger stick bass ?
RIIIGHT!!!!😂😂❤❤❤
Man, every song on every album The Police made…amazing. And to end their run at the high point with Synchronicity? Perfect. One of my favorite bands.
Thank you, Rick. I was 18 in '79 when this record came out. I had it on 8-track tape and wore it out. The whole album is a masterpiece.
And there was 7 year old me in 1979, just thinking... "This song is cool!" Not having any idea how revolutionary it was or that I would still love it and The Police so much, 45 years later!
...and there was 18 year old me wondering if your legs could actually break walking on the moon, and also thinking what the heck is that guy doing on his drum set?
Always loved this tune! Copeland’s highhats on this are awesome.
OMG... I'm an all time absolute Police fan... not a musician but good ear... I've listened Walking on the Moon thousands of times... and I never noticed the synth!! And their voices before the start... amazing. Thank you so much
One of the best lines from an 80's song "walking home from your house....walking on the moon" I see him coming back from her house and you really like her and she really likes you and it's so early in your relationship...there is so much hesitation in the song that creates that sustained tension...he met Trudy walking down the street...and lived literally right next to her in 77...
probably my favorite lyric ever. It brings me back to my youth every time, captures that moment of young love like no other lyric
My favorite Police song by far- an incredible amount of space, air, whatever you want to call it. Copeland literally uses the full snare just 2 times in the entire song, the cross stick stuff notwithstanding. Amazing- thanks Rick.
as a 2011, 13 year old, this music is a lot better than whatever pop music is being produced right now.
Really great hearing the multi-tracks to this iconic song. Love The Police!
I fell in love with the Police after Rick did ‘every little thing she does is magic’ all the way back at the beginning of his Channel. Haven’t stopped listening to them since…so glad this is back
How I loved the Police was when I picked up "Ghost in the Machine" album, then saw them in concert that year. Blown away. I started listening to all of the albums of the three playing before Sting went solo. Reggatta de Blanc is one of my favorite albums.
I’ve been listening to this song for 45 years, but what an education, thank you Rick!!
Man, that song is one of my favorite jams. Once I was riding in my car blasting "Walking On The Moon", and after it ended my little cousin, who is seven, said "I like that song."
I am not a drummer. But I listen to this song over and over JUST to hear what the GENIUS Stewart Copeland did. Best drum track ever recorded IMHO.
This album has the quality of time transportation. I remember where I was, what I was doing, who I was doing it with and just being pleased that I could dance with a big smile on my face, lost in the song …… Thank you Police.😊
I wore out my cassette of Synchronicity at age 10 and I’ve loved them ever since. This song is sublime. 😌 So great to have WMTSG back!
This has ALWAYS been one of my favorite songs!
Me too, from the very first listen, back in 1979...
Thank God for the return to "what makes this song great"!!!! I learn so much when these songs are taken apart and analyzed.
Rick, I saw this tour in LA at the Hollywood Palladium in 1979. I was a Junior in High School. I was totally blown away by Stewart Copeland. I remember my friends and I work freaking out with enthusiasm on the drive home.
Such is the power of this song, I can still vividly remember the first time I heard it. I was nearly 19 and in work early , it was about 07:30 am and my boss and I were working away with the radio on. The DJ announced that this was the new Police single, which was being played on UK radio for the first time and the minute we heard it, my boss and I looked at each other and said, "this is effing brilliant". We were both heavily into our music and were blown away by the track. Even to this day, every time I hear it, I'm taken back to that morning and how I felt the first time I heard it.
I well remember when I was dancing to it (actually, I let its energy flow through me) in the 80s. And just a year ago, I was at a Sting concert with my 2 teenage children who were going wild just like me 40 years later. The joy, the power, the beauty of their music knows no barriers. No band has managed to cross generations as if time meant nothing. Then as now, The Police are simply a "stand alone band". 13:43
The brilliance of leaving space in the recording and drumming for a song called "Walking on the Moon" is so perfect 😀
My dad used to make listen to The Police a lot when I was a kid, especially this song. It is beyond amazing. I'm glad you did this one, Rick.
Merci de nous éclairer sur ces morceaux Légendaires. The Police traverse les années, leurs chansons toujours aussi fraîches et parfaites. 3 génies musicaux réunis pour illuminer nos vies. Il y a presque quelque chose de divin dans tout ça. Merci.
The most reggae song they did was "The Bed's Too Big Without You" from the same album.
I'll never forget the first time I heard "Walking". I had convinced my mom to give me some money to buy Regatta de Blanc, and I was excitedly listening to it on the turntable. Before the first measure of Walking even finished, I was transfixed. It's so deeply mysterious, melodic, and rhythmic, I was just instantly hooked.
White reggae at its best
@@jimmoore8951you ain’t lied
This brings back a flood of memories, 17 yrs old watching this song on MTV in my grandma's living room, wow. Life was so much more simple then, and I didn't quite realize how special the music was in the 70's and 80's. I always enjoyed The Police, Copeland's drumming was original and crazy good, Sting was one of the best vocalists ever, and Andy was an inspiration in my own playing.
Looking back to when this song came out, with cold and hot wars going on all over the world and killing and bombings every week in Northern Ireland along with almost everyone in my country (Republic of Ireland) being very poor, things were quite grim on the whole. But all this bad stuff washed over me as a 15 year old kid with all this amazing music coming out weekly but we just took it for granted at the time that this was just the way things were. Now I realise how lucky we were in many ways.
The creativity of that band was off the charts to the extent that they were really their own genre in that it was a fusion of so many. In 50 years time, their music will still hold up.
YESSSSS... to all that you said
I was 12 and it was the first 45 rpm I have ever bought. Since then, I have never stopped listening to these great musicians
I remember the shock when I heard this song for the first time; the sophistication of every instrument line, yet the powerful, dreamy feeling.
I never was interested in playing the guitar until that airy resounding cristal enigmatic Dm11 chord! Wow, a huge universe on itself! The drums, so obsessive, so elegant, like bouncing diamonds, the bass line so effortlessly efficient, that insolent voice tearing the space.. I think that song in particular defined my journey in music and still does!
Waking up to this was like Christmas morning as a kid.
Clearly, you have an educators soul.
I'm not a musician, but most of the time, I understand what you're saying.
Great work.
A trio of master musicians. They sculpted a true masterpiece here - one of many for The Police!
5 ridiculously great albums released in about 4 1/2 years. Each one different, each one a masterpiece. Rick, you could do this kind of detailed breakdown on just about every track on every album. Genius.
I also remember the video. At NASA with Stewart banging on the Saturn Rocket with drumsticks.
Stu is the glue that holds them together. Amazing drummer.
This was the song that made me a lifelong, die-hard Police fan. It also made me want to become a musician, and was the first bass line I ever learned as a kid. Every part is perfect. I still play or listen to this song regularly. Thank you Rick-and The Police!
The music from the Police is literally timeless.