Where did this song come from? While it did not appear on the “Synchronicity” LP record, it magically appeared on the CD. Was it snuck on the tape? I’ve known at least one tape album to have an extra song to fill blank space. If not, you can’t tell me the Police went into the recording studio just for one last (and lousy) song?
(Maybe Sting was trying to send someone a warning?)
It was originally the B-side of the “Every Breath You Take” single, and was added to the CD of Synchronicity as a bonus.
Sting once performed a very different version of the song onstage with Frank Zappa.
I had a cassette copy of that album. The song was definitely on the cassette, too. It was not a “hidden” track, either. It was listed along with the rest of the tracks on the tape.
Yep, it was on the cassette version of Synchronicity, but not on the vinyl. I think they were trying to popularize cassettes at the time… I remember there was a blurb about how it was a BASF chromium dioxide tape, with the highest fidelity possible. Oh yeah, and there was a sticker admonishing us that “Home taping is killing music.” (My sister bought the album, and I later bought the tape.)
There were at least two other B-sides recorded for Synchronicity: “Once Upon a Daydream” (similarly dark, about a boy who got his girlfriend pregnant, and the father pushed the girl to the floor, killing the unborn baby, upon which the boy shoots him in the head) and “Someone to Talk to” (sung by Andy Summers, and far superior to the dreadful “Mother” that made the album - though it does have one of the coolest solos by Summers in The Police canon). I am not sure what singles they appeared on. There were also some live versions of classics like “Message in a Bottle.” All of these tracks are on the The Police box set, Message in a Box.
Seriously, I know Sting was going through a divorce at the time of the recording of Synchronicity, and band dynamics were at an all-time low, but good Lord, I think he needed a hug. 
An album themed with suicide, jealousy, paranoia, murder, and misanthropy… still, it’s a masterpiece.
This song was also a minor plot point in the movie Copycat (about a serial killer).
I have both the vinyl and the cassette and can confirm that the other posters are correct.
I also have the 45 single of “Every Breath You Take” and it is on the B side.
All the songs on the original LP of Synchronicity are written by Sting, so the fact that “Murder By Numbers” is co-written by Summers may have been a factor, either it was one of the final cuts from the album, they weren’t finished the song in time, or they were saving their material for subsequent projects either as a group or solo.
The other B-sides “Someone to Talk To” (Summers) “Once Upon a Daydream” (Sting, Summers) and their release dates suggest that MBN was completed first or they favoured the song.
Me too- I never had the vinyl album, but “Murder by Numbers” was definitely on my cassette back in 1984.
Another “I had that cassette!” post.
I vaguely remember some concerned parent writing to Ann Landers (?) about the song, outraged that a popular rock band would release a song advocating murder.
It was not uncommon for cassettes to have songs that were not released on the vinyl back then. I believe the Cars greatest hits CD had a track that the vinyl didn’t.
IIRC, Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2 had different track listings for all three versions it was released on: vinyl, cassette, and CD all had some unique tracks.
Nitpick: “Mother” was written by Summers, and “Miss Gradenko” was written by Stewart Copeland. All original Police albums feature at least one song written by each band member.
I remember that well, and it struck me as the perfect refutation of Tipper Gore.
“Murder by Numbers” was an attempt at political satire (the sarcastic idea is that, if you’re a sadistic murderer, you should get into politics; world leaders can kill MILLIONS of people with impunity), which should make it clearly protected speech.
But people like the nut who wrote that letter to Ann Landers wanted Tipper to protect us from that song, which wasn’t really about murder at all.
Strange thing is, there WAS a song on the Police’s Synchronicity album that WAS about a dangerous stalker with (possibly) murderous intentions, and THAT song never raised an eyebrow: it was, of course, “Every Breath You Take,” which most people thought was a harmless love song.
Sorry, but I can’t let that go unremarked upon. It’s actually a very good song. It’s a testament to how great that album was that a song that good didn’t make the cut the first time around.
Yeah, but that doesn’t explain “Mother’s” inclusion on the album.
Most of Summers’ contributions to Police albums were strong (Zenyatta Mondatta’s “Behind My Camel” won a Grammy for best rock instrumental), but “Mother” sucks, plain and simple. For the last two albums Sting more or less came to the studio with polished 4-track demos and told Summers and Copeland to play along. So maybe this was a way of Summers saying, “Fuck you Sting, I’m not playing as a session musician on a Sting solo record.”
I didn’t much like Summers’ album with Robert Fripp, but it was instructive. It gave the listener a pretty good idea of what Summers contributed to Police albums. Listening to “I Advance Masked,” for instance, it became evident that the opening of “Secret Journey” was Andy Summer’s work, though the song itself was Sting’s.
Yes sorry, I knew this but I read the album credits incorrectly and forgot about those two songs. Funny, I actually forgot they were even on that album, mostly because I skip them…alot.
Weird, I just noticed “Walking in your Footsteps” is definitely on my cassette, yet it does not appear in the album credits or on the lyrics pullout!?
I don’t have my vinyl Synchronicity available, but the cassette is here somewhere… I don’t recall the omission of WIYF on the credits or lyrics sheet. In fact, on my vinyl copy (which I think is a UK version) there are additional lyrics listed, like a whole section of the song that was either edited out or never recorded. I remember the couplet:
They live in a museum
It’s the only place you’ll see 'em
And I thought, “Man, Sting is really running out of gas.”