On this date in 1978, The Police's Roxanne was released. 10 facts about the song.
Sting got the idea for the song after walking through the red-light district of Paris when the band was there to play at a club. He saw the prostitutes there and wondered what it would be like to fall in love with one.
The name Roxanne was inspired by a poster for the play Cyrano de Bergerac, which features a woman named Roxanne. However, the song does not feature in the 1987 film of the same name, based on the play, which stars Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.
It has, however, featured in other films including the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge, and in the 1982 film 48 Hours, in which Eddie Murphy sings an off-key version in a jail cell.
Roxanne was the first major-label release by The Police. They had released a song called Fall Out on an independent label but it had been a flop.
It was the first song guitarist Andy Summers played on with the band.
Sting liked the song but didn't think it would be a hit, as it was more brooding than their other tracks. Miles Copeland was more impressed with Roxanne than with anything else they recorded at those sessions, and insisted it be the single.
The sound of the introduction is down to Sting accidentally sitting on an upright Piano keyboard, having mistakenly thought the lid was closed. The sound of his bum hitting the keys and his Laughter was mixed into the intro.
The BBC chose not to include the song on its playlists at first, so The Police spread the story that it had been banned because it was about prostitutes in order to enhance their reputation as rebellious punk rockers.
There’s a rap version. In 1997, Roxanne was remixed by Puff Daddy for the compilation The Very Best of Sting & The Police.
The Police performed Roxanne when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. This was the first time they’d played together in public since they split up in 1986. When the band reunited in 2007, Roxanne was the opening number of their performance at the Grammy Awards.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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