Roxanne

The speaker urges Roxanne to stop selling sex and to leave a life he describes as belonging to the past. His repeated reassurance that she does not have to do this sounds caring, but the song also shifts into a personal appeal: he says he loves her and wants her to himself. The mood therefore mixes concern and affection with jealousy and pressure.

The “red light” suggests a signal associated with sex work, while “walk the streets for money” makes Roxanne’s situation more explicit. “Those days are over” may express hope that she can change her life, though it is unclear whether this is a promise, an assumption, or the speaker’s wish. When he tells her to “put away” her makeup, he seems to connect her appearance with preparing for work.

The speaker says he would not “talk down” to Roxanne, suggesting he wants to treat her with respect. Yet his demand not to “share” her with another man, and his insistence that his mind is made up, complicate that tenderness: he may be protective, but also possessive. The lyrics do not tell us what Roxanne wants or whether she agrees with his view of her life, so his concern should not be taken as the whole story.