Two Versions of the Song Roxanne

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Many say that music has evolved over the years. This essay shall explore the elements of two versions of one song. It shall discuss the correlations and disparities of these songs and confer how it has been revolutionised to entertain the audiences of today. The two songs which shall be scrutinized shall be Roxanne. Originally released in 1978, it was performed by ‘The Police’. The cover version El Tango de Roxanne was rearranged by Mariano Mores in Moulin Rouge, 2001. The main gist of the song is Sting telling his girlfriend that she doesn’t have to be a prostitute anymore. One could say that repeating the words “Roxanne, you don’t have to put on the red-light” in the song causes it to become the main idea of this song. As the song is about him trying to persuade his girlfriend to stop being a prostitute, the key –which is in minor–, reflects his sadness of the predicament. The singer executes his voice in this version high pitched as if to be pleading, connecting better to the audience and punctuating his lyrics further. As Sting’s lyrics take precedence, at times the band stops playing which creates dramatical pauses for the instruments and signifies the lyrics of that section more. The instruments used for this song is of a standard rock band; lead vocalist, electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit. The genre for this song is determined by the steady and yet simplistic instruments used in this version. An interesting note is that the chorus is in the genre of rock but the verses combine the genres tango and reggae. This could be because merging these three different styles of music attracted the attention of youth more with rock being rebellious at that time and tango and reggae having a heavy beat for that time period. ... ... middle of paper ... ..., Roxanne by the Police starts singing at 0:19 whereas the version by Mariano Mores starts at 0:39. This twenty second difference could be because the original is very repetitive hence making the listener bored, whereas the later version is more unpredictable and includes glimpses of different instruments. However the tempo is faster in the first version. This may be because it was targeted at a younger audience who like faster tempi. One major difference between these songs are the lyrics. Mariano Mores changed the verses and added Spanish, so as to suit the scene of the film. Finally, this assignment has shown how music can be updated to suit different generations. Through the process of evaluating both songs, and comparing the two, one could say that the differences in the second song help refresh the first version. Although others may remark ‘old is gold’.

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