Lyrics to
Roxanne

This version of Roxanne was released by The Police in 1978.

Our About The Police page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Roxanne from 1978 as well as all of the other lyrics from The Police that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to The Police or about the 1970s in general.

You don’t have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don’t have to sell your body to the night

Roxanne
You don’t have to wear that dress tonight
Walk the streets of money
You don’t care if it’s wrong or if it’s right

Roxanne
You don’t have to put on the red light
Roxanne
You don’t have to put on the red light

Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne

I loved you since I knew you
I wouldn’t talk down to you
I have you to tell just how I feel
I won’t share you with another boy

I know my mind is made up
So put away your make up
Told you once I won’t tell you again
It’s a bad way

Roxanne
You don’t have to put on the red light
Roxanne
You don’t have to put on the red light

Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)

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The Police has released many songs over the years besides Roxanne. The Police released songs from 1978 to 1983 spanning across albums like Outlandos d'Amour, Reggatta de Blanc, Zenyatta Mondatta, Ghost In The Machine, and Synchronicity. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Police.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Roxanne by The Police

The lyrics to Roxanne are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by The Police in 1978. Elements of the lyrics to Roxanne are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by The Police and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Roxanne back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Roxanne by The Police in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Roxanne" means the words set to the music of Roxanne, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Police. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Roxanne and the lyrics to Roxanne are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Police who came here looking just for the lyrics to Roxanne, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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