The Police "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"

Sting had to convince members of The Police to record "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". Sting wrote the song a year before The Police and claims the band didn't want to record the song because it was "too soft".

The Police "King of Pain"

As a forty-something adult with no criminal history (minus that time when I was 12 and shot off bottle rockets in a park near my home), I still feel a guilty sensation whenever a police car drives past me. My first instinct is: they're looking for me! I'm not sure who or what to blame for my always-guilty-for-no-reason conscience. An equally guilty feeling overcomes me whenever I exit a department store for fear I'll set off the ever-embarrassing "you stole something" alarm. For the latter, I seem to always be that guy who finds that one clerk who forgot to remove the security tag from my newly-purchased slacks. As for the former, this may or may not stem from Halloween 1991. As that night of trick-or-treating began, I literally walked across the street from my house to my friend Matt's house when a police car stopped me. He offered this threatening warning: my description matched that of a neighborhood bully who was stealing candy from other children. The description apparently was: a boy wearing a black coat. GUILTY! After explaining to the officer that I literally just walked about 50 feet from my house and, for that reason alone, I didn't do it. He warned me that he'd be out all evening to keep an eye on things (i.e. "me").

The Police "Wrapped Around My Finger"

While battling the flu one January evening, I could no longer tolerate my sore throat and took action. After lacing up my snow boots, I braved the windy, icy night and headed to a tiny convenience store about three blocks from my apartment in hopes of getting some ice cream to soothe the razor blades in my throat. Upon entering the store, an older Russian man paid me no attention as he sat behind the counter watching a tiny black and white TV. With my head throbbing and nose running, I quickly moved to the large cooler at the back of the store, but found no ice cream. An aisle over, I stumbled upon a small freezer filled with ice cream, but a strip of masking tape stood guard over the freezer door. In my fevered state, my brain couldn’t compute why the freezer was haphazardly taped shut, so I headed to the counter to ask the indifferent Russian. He stammered in broken English something about the bureaucrats at city hall and that he did not have an ice cream license. I stood there confused and dumbfounded.  Was there such a thing as an ice cream license? Seems odd, but then again it's Chicago. Did you have to stand in line at a DMV-like facility to get said license? Did I take too much ibuprofen? The Russian nervously eyed around the tiny store and finally broke the silence.  

“You’re not working undercover for the city?” he questioned me.  

“No,” I replied as if it wasn't the first time I answered that question.

“OK. I sell you ice cream.”

"Alright," I said as my brain questioned whether I really wanted unlicensed ice cream.

As the two of us shuffled to the back of the store, the old Russian mumbled to himself before cautiously lifting the tape off the freezer doors allowing unrestricted access to the frozen concoction. Without any deliberation, I grabbed a pint of Butter Pecan, paid him, and trekked home. A few months later I happened upon the corner store and noticed a “FOR LEASE” sign in the now empty storefront. I can only assume the Chicago Department of Ice Cream Licensing shut him down. 

Sting "Nothing 'Bout Me"

One of the forgotten gems from Sting's wildly successful Ten Summoner's Tales album is the final song on the album known as "Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)". While not a huge hit on the radio, the uptempo (by Sting's standards) song sounds like something you'd hear during the credits of a late-'90s rom-com starring Hugh Grant, Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Aniston.

Sting "We'll Be Together"

Listen closely to the end of Sting's "We'll Be Together" and you'll hear lyrics to "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free".

Sting - "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"

After splitting with The Police, Sting had a very important message in his first solo single: "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free".  He claimed the song was an antidote to The Police hit "Every Breath You Take".

Sting - "Fortress Around Your Heart"

Sting's divorce from his first wife was the muse for some of his biggest hits with The Police including "The King of Pain" and "Every Breath You Take".  During Sting's solo days, he revisited the pain from his divorce and turned it into "Fortress Around Your Heart" -- a Top 10 song in 1985.  

Natalie Merchant - "Kind & Generous"

While the newly-fronted 10,000 Maniacs were busy remaking Roxy Music's "More Than This", Natalie Merchant released her second solo album Ophelia.  The album wasn't nearly the success as her debut, but did contain the Top 10 hit "Kind & Generous".  Much like the Police's "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da", "Kind & Generous" featured the lyric "thank you" over and over and over....