Put on the Red Light

Artist: The Police
Song: Roxanne
Album: Outlandos d’Amour
Model: April Blue
Location: Bedminster, Bristol

Notes:-
‘Roxanne’ was released in 1978 and I think I bought my 7” copy together with ‘So Lonely’ another Police single. The two songs were a brand-new sound to me and I loved the reggae guitar chop through ‘Roxanne’. It led me down the path of love with reggae music. Copeland’s drumming is effortless and incredible and I still think he’s one of the most under-rated musicians of all time. A song about falling in love with a prostitute and saving her from her life of sin was a highly addictive mix for this teen. The song still appeals to me and millions of others to this day with thousands of covers giving testament to how it endures time. I painted my room black and put a red light bulb in the main light, perhaps to emulate the song.

The song is dark and was written during a lonely, dingy tour of Europe in a back-street hotel in Paris. Sting had wandered out at night and stumbled upon the red-light district (yeah, right!), come back to the hotel and seen a poster for Cyrano de Bergerac in the hotel lobby, giving him his flawed heroine’s name, Roxanne.

The image theory was simple enough but the detail was tricky. I toyed with all sorts of literal interpretations and dismissed them. The red light was essential given the whole songs premise and repeated reference to it (and my memories of my teen bedroom). To me the prostitute he has fallen in love with is working reluctantly in the sex industry. He wants to ‘save’ her from it. “You don’t HAVE to put on the red light”, he wants to offer her an alternative. The book in the shot was a brilliant inspiration by April at the shoot. It grounds her, gives her an intellect and maybe a chance in the future. The processing is deliberately evoking a seedy 70’s feel but retain an everyday setting. The camera angle voyeuristic…