Roxanne

Sting wrote Roxanne after seeing prostitutes near the hotel in Paris where the band stayed in October 1977 to play the Nashville Club. The title comes from the heroine of Cyrano de Bergerac, an old poster for the play hung in the hotel foyer. Sting had conceived it as a bossa nova and credits Copeland with the tango rhythm. During recording he accidentally sat on the studio piano keyboard, and the atonal chord and laughter stayed at the start of the track.

Sting said the band were a little embarrassed by it, since it was slow, quiet and melodic compared with their usual material. Miles Copeland was enthusiastic and took it to A&M, which signed the band. It came out as a single in April 1978 and did not chart, though A&M advertised that the BBC had banned it. After it was issued in North America in early 1979 it reached number 32 on the Hot 100 and number 31 in Canada, and a UK reissue in April 1979 reached number 12. Rolling Stone placed it at number 388 on its 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs, and it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.

The band performed it at their 2003 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and opened the 2007 Grammy Awards with it.