Noa Johannesson: Roxanne

I don’t know what caused me to find this video last week, but I stumbled upon Noa Johannesson of Jonkoping, Sweden doing a fantastic cover of the Police’s first hit “Roxanne.” At the time he made this recording, Noa was 15 years old – he’s 18 now.

He plays guitar, bass, drums, and does all of the vocals. I wish I had this kid’s talent when I was 15 – heck, I wish I had it now at a much, er – seasoned age. I was blown away by this recording at first play and thought it would make a wonderful cover version for Monday.

The Police Original

Most American’s introduction to the Police and the vocals of Sting came about in late 1978 when their first hit single was released from their LP “Outlandos d'Amour.” While the band had released the “Fall Out” single in the UK a year earlier, it was not picked up by an American label.

At the beginning of the song, you hear a discordant piano followed by Sting laughing – both were mistakes that were kept in the mix. While the tape was rolling, Sting accidentally sat on a piano keyboard which resulted in the laugh.

The song was written in a seedy Parisian hotel where Sting observed the ladies of the night outside his window. The name Roxanne was inspired by the lead character in Cyrano de Bergerac. A poster for the play was hanging in the hotel’s lobby. The song was originally written with a bossa nova rhythm, but Stuart Copeland changed it up to a tango. The song charted at 12 in the UK and peaked at 32 in the US.