“Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is the sunniest thing on Ghost in the Machine, the Police's fourth album, from 1981, and it had been waiting in Sting's back pocket for years: he first put it down as a demo in the autumn of 1976 at Mike Howlett's house, long before the band had the clout to make it sparkle like this.

What sets it apart is an outsider. The Police rarely let guests in, but Jean-Alain Roussel's piano rolls all through it and gives the trio's lean attack a lush, bright shimmer. Stewart Copeland's drums skip and splash, Andy Summers' electric guitar chimes, and Sting, on bass and vocals, rides a chorus that bursts open like a champagne cork, a pure rush of infatuation. Hugh Padgham engineered it and co-produced it with the band.

It went all the way to the top in the UK in November 1981 and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and its success helped push Ghost in the Machine up among the band's most successful records.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.