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The progenitor of Police’s works, “Outlandos D’Amour”, was released in 1978, right in the midst of the wave of excitement caused by the punk wave that began spreading the previous year after a short period of gestation. And while various groups were forming here and there, destined to leave a profound mark on the future global music scene, three musicians of different skills and experience joined their forces to express their particular approach to rock music by founding The Police.
The individuals in question are: the bassist, composer, and singer with a jazz background Sting, whose real name is Gordon Matthew Sumner, the experienced guitarist Andy Summers, who had already worked with the Animals, and the American-born drummer Stewart Copeland. After their first single, “Fall Out” (produced with the modest guitarist Henry Padovani still in the lineup) and several attempts to get noticed by playing alongside purely punk groups like the Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks, the three hit the right path with the release of a song written by Sting, “Roxanne”, which skillfully blends reggae and punk. The piece in question, which narrates a boy's attempt to persuade the prostitute he loves to leave her "job," was censored by the BBC, but as often happens in these cases, it had the opposite effect. The Police indeed, riding the wave of success earned by the single, secured a contract with A&M for three albums over three years and recorded their debut album, almost entirely composed by Sting: “Outlandos D’Amour”.
This is a hybrid work, still utilizing elements of punk origin, but already containing the reggae germs that would characterize the subsequent “Reggatta De Blanc.” These are evident in the second track, “So Lonely”, a remarkable song with alternating rhythm, reggae in the verse, and vigorous in the chorus, enriched by lyrics that very well describe the loneliness after a love story, in the second beautiful single “Can’t Stand Losing You”, also with a dual structure and on the subject of the unbearable nature of the end of love and in the fourth track, “Hole In My Life”, musically somewhat repetitive and once again centered on the lack of love, the true thread of the work. Besides the famous “Roxanne”, the album contains other impactful songs, such as the rhythmic “Truth Hits Everybody”, “Born In The 50’s”, and “Peanuts” (written jointly by Sting and Copeland and accompanied by a saxophone solo). The last two compositions of the album deserve a separate discussion: the unique “Be My Girl-Sally” (by Sting and Summers) in which the musical background is interrupted for a poetry reading by Summers himself and the instrumental “Masoko Tanga”, in which the desire to experiment and have fun with the music prevails among three musicians proficient with their instruments. It is precisely this fact, the technical superiority of the three "policemen" compared to others from the post-punk cohort, and their use of it to renew the song form with insertions of other genres, combined with Sting's excellent melodic ability, that would constitute their fortune already starting from this work.
A seminal album for the Police genre.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Next to You (02:55)
I can't stand it for another day
When you live so many miles away.
Nothing here is gonna make me stay,
(You) took me over, let me find a way.
I sold my house
I sold my motor, too.
All I want is to be Next To You.
I'd rob a bank
Maybe steal a plane.
You took me over,
Think I'm goin' insane.
What can I do,
All I want is to be next to you.
What can I do,
All I want is to be next to you.
I've had a thousand girls or maybe more,
But I've never felt like this before.
But I just don't know what's come over me,
You took me over, take a look at me.
What can I do,
All I want is to be next to you.
What can I do,
All I want is to be next to you.
All I want is to be next to you,
All I want is to be next to you,
All I want is to be next to you.
So many times I used to give a sign
Got this feeling, gonna lose my mind.
When all it is is just a love affair.
You took me over baby, take me there.
What can I do
All I want is to be next to you
What can I do
All I want is to be next to you
What can I do
All I want is to be next to you
What can I do
All I want is to be next to you.
All I want is to be next to you...
02 So Lonely (04:52)
Well, someone told me yesterday
That when you throw your love away
You act as if you just don't care
You look as if you're going somewhere
But I just can't convince myself
I couldn't live with no one else
And I can only play that part
And sit and nurse my broken heart
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely
Now, no one's knocked upon my door
For a thousand years or more
All made up and nowhere to go
Welcome to this one-man show
Just take a seat, they're always free
No surprise, no mystery
In this theatre that I call my soul
I always play the starring role
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
I feel lonely, oh so lonely
I feel so alone
I feel low
I feel so, feel so low
I feel low, low
I feel low, low, low
I feel low, low, low
I feel low, low, low
I feel low, low, low
I feel low, low, low
Low, I feel low
I feel low
I feel low
I feel so lonely
I feel so lonely
I feel so lonely, lonely, lonely, lone
Lonely, lone
I feel so alone, yeah
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
So lonely, so lonely, so lonely
03 Roxanne (03:15)
Roxanne
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 for 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)
Ro
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 (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 (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (Put on the red light)
Roxanne (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)
04 Hole in My Life (04:55)
Yeah
There's a hole
In my life
There's a hole
In my life
Shadow in my heart
Is tearing me apart
Or maybe it's just something
In my stars
There's a hole
In my life
There's a hole
In my life
Be a happy man
I try the best I can
Or maybe I'm just looking
For too much
There's something missing from my life
Cuts me open like a knife
It leaves me vulnerable
I have this disease
I shake like an incurable
God help me please
Oh, there's a hole
In my life
There's a hole
In my life
Yeah...
05 Peanuts (04:02)
It's all a game
You're not the same
Your famous name
The price of fame
Oh no
Try to liberate me
I said oh no
Stay and irritate me
I said oh no
Try to elevate me
I said oh no
Just a fallen hero
Don't wanna hear about the drugs you're taking
Don't wanna read about the love you're making
Don't wanna hear about the life you're faking
Don't wanna read about the muck they're raking
You sang your song
For much too long
The songs they're wrong
The bread has gone
Oh no
Try to liberate me
I said oh no
Stay and irritate me
I said oh no
Try to elevate me
I said oh no
Just a fallen hero
Don't wanna hear about the drugs you're taking
Don't wanna read about the love you're making
Don't wanna hear about the life you're faking
Don't wanna read about the muck they're raking
It's all a game
You're not the same
Your famous name
The price of fame
Oh no
Try to liberate me
I said oh no
Stay and irritate me
I said oh no
Try to elevate me
I said oh no
Just a fallen hero
[Oh, you're just a fallen hero]
Don't wanna hear about the drugs you're taking
Don't wanna read about the love you're making
Don't wanna hear about the life you're faking
Don't wanna read about the muck they're raking
Don't wanna find out what you've been taking
Don't wanna read about the love you're making
Don't wanna hear about the life you're faking
Don't wanna read about the muck they're raking
Don't wanna find out what you've been taking
Don't wanna read about the love you're making
Don't wanna hear about the life you're faking
Don't wanna read about the muck they're raking
Peanuts, peanuts
Peanuts
07 Truth Hits Everybody (02:55)
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Sleep lay behind me like a broken ocean
Strange waking dreams before my eyes unfold
You lay there sleeping like an open doorway
I stepped outside myself and felt so cold
Take a look at my new toy
It'll blow your head in two, oh boy
Truth hits everybody
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone
I thought about it and my dream was broken
I clutch at images like dying breath
And I don't want to make a fuss about it
The only certain thing in life is death
Take a look at my new toy
It'll blow your head in two, oh boy
Truth hits everybody
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone
Where you want to be
Won't you ever see
Truth hits everybody
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everybody (oh, oh, oh)
Truth hits everyone
08 Born in the 50's (03:44)
We were born
Born in the fifties
Born
Born in the fifties
My mother cried
When president Kennedy died
She said it was the Communists
But I knew better
Would they drop the bomb on us
While we made love on the beach
We were the class they couldn't teach
'Cos we knew better
We were born
Born in the fifties
Born
Born in the fifties
They screamed
When the Beatles sang
And they laughed when the King fell down the stairs
Oh they should've known better
Oh we hated our aunt
Then we messed in our pants
Then we lost our faith and prayed to the TV
Oh we should've known better
We were born
Born in the fifties
We freeze like statues on the pages of history
Living was never like this when we took all those G. C. S. E.'s
Oh you opened the door for us
And then you turned to dust
You don't understand us
So don't reprimand us
We're taking the future
We don't need no teacher
09 Be My Girl-Sally (03:24)
Won't you be my girl
Won't you be my girl
Won't you be my, be my,
Be my girl
I was blue and lonely, I couldn't sleep a wink
And I could only get unconscious if I'd had to much to drink.
There was somehow, something wrong somewhere,
And each day seemed grey and dead
The seeds of desperation were growing in my head.
I needed inspiration, a brand new start in life,
Somewhere to place affection, but I didn't want a wife.
And then by lucky chance I saw [in] a special magazine
An ad. that was unusual, the like I'd never seen,
"Experience something different with our new imported toy,
She's loving, warm, inflatable and a guarantee of joy."
She came all wrapped in cardboard, all pink and shrivelled down
A breath of air was all she needed to make her lose that frown.
I took her to the bedroom and pumped her with some life,
And later in a moment that girl became my wife.
And so I sit her in the corner and sometimes stroke her hair
And when I'm feeling naughty I blow her up with air
She's cuddly and she's bouncy, she's like a rubber ball,
I bounce her in the kitchen and I bounce her in the hall.
[And now my life is different since Sally came my way]
I wake up [in the] morning and have her on a tray
She's everything they say she was and I wear a permanent grin,
And I only have to worry in case my girl wears pins.
Won't you be my girl
Won't you be my girl
Won't you be my, be my,
Be my girl
10 Masoko Tanga (05:42)
Moderator's Note:
While this song has lyrics, they are nonsense words.
This was intentional.
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Other reviews
By MrSalzano
"Roxanne, you don’t have to put on the red light, those days are over you have to understand once and for all!"
Their irresistible ascent is captured entirely in the three singles from this debut album, which alternated at the top of the American and English charts for more than a year.
By claudio carpentieri
An album that has all the cards on the table to be considered a regal jewel box both for the presence of valid tracks and for that creative and imaginative way of making music.
'Next To You' clarifies how a compact and expressive sound can represent one of the strengths of this debuting trio.
By Rax
The force and emotional impact of this "little disc" are absolutely devastating.
"So Lonely"... could have been the grand finale of the album. The Police would realize this over the years when it became the grand finale of their concerts.
