The Police Drummer Recalls Thinking ‘Roxanne’ Was a ‘Throwaway Song’ When Sting First Wrote the Hit

“Roxanne” might be a classic now, but one law enforcement officer didn’t always think it would be a hit.

In an interview with Podcast by Bob LefsetzStewart Copeland revealed that he initially thought the 1978 song was a “throwaway song”.

“We fought and starved and didn’t go anywhere for about a year and a half, and [Sting] he wrote it without any plan,” recalled the band’s 71-year-old drummer. “It certainly wasn’t a police song because we were still a theoretical punk band.”

At the time, Copeland wanted the band to stick to its punk rock ethos, but Sting, 72, and guitarist Andy Summers envisioned exploring sounds without limits.

Sting tells the stories behind the hits, from prostitutes (‘Roxanne’) to Bond (‘Every Breath You Take’) (Exclusive)

“I was the one who cracked the punk whip,” he said during the interview. “No, we have to be punks. We have to be punks. And they say, ‘Can’t we just play?’ ‘”

According to Copeland, Sting “secretly” shared his idea for “Roxanne” with Summers, and after he was excited about it, the song found its way into the drummer’s hands.

“I gave her a drum beat that was kind of a counter bass and turned it into a police song,” Copeland explained. “It wasn’t punk-o-rama, but it was still a rock song, even though it was kind of a lament.”

But the drummer still wasn’t sold on the tune. “It was a throwaway song,” he said.

Stewart Copeland of the NYPD in October 2023.

Roy Rochlin/Getty

That’s what he believed, until his brother, Miles Copeland – who was the band’s manager at the time – convinced him that “Roxanne” had potential.

“He hears it, ‘People are going to love this. And I don’t care if it’s good or not, but I know people are going to love this,’ Stewart said.

Stewart continued, “He took it and said, ‘I’m going to take it to the record company,’ and they said, ‘OK, we’ll put it out as a single.’ And the rest is history.”

The song eventually became the band’s hit song, “Every Breath You Take.”

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Stewart Copeland of the police.

Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty

Sting is selling his music catalog to Universal in a deal reportedly worth $300 million

In a May 2023 interview with PEOPLE, the “Desert Rose” musician opened up about the inspiration behind “Roxanne” — prostitutes and Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play. Cyrano de Bergerac.

“We were behind the train station [in Paris], Gare Saint-Lazare, in the alley. And the reason the hotel was so cheap was because we had to share it with the ladies of the night,” he recalled. “Up until that point I had a pretty sheltered life and I was a bit fascinated by commerce. I found it intriguing.”

During this time, Sting was mesmerized by a poster on the wall with an advertisement Cyranowhose main character is deeply in love with a woman named Roxanne.

“Those two conflicting ideas — of this beautiful name and this very, very elegant, courtly romance and what was going on in the hotel — just lit a torch in front of me,” he said. “I went to my room, picked up my guitar and imagined this woman coming to life.”

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Source: HIS Education