Review
Genre and Mood
Roseaux turn Walking on the Moon, the Police’s 1979 hit, into soul. The French collective’s version, sung by the American soul singer Aloe Blacc, is dreamy and soulful, more introspective than the bouncing reggae of the original, and it became the best-known track of their debut album.
Song Summary
“Walking on the Moon” was written by Sting, who said the riff came to him drunk in a hotel room in Munich and that the song was partly inspired by his first girlfriend, because being in love is to be relieved of gravity. Roseaux keep the melody and the words and rework the arrangement, as they did with every cover on the album, reshaping rather than copying; above all, Aloe Blacc’s warm, grounded soul voice replaces Sting’s lighter, higher one. The upload on this page, posted by a fan, is labelled as a live performance; the album version runs about five and a half minutes.
Musical Breakdown
Intro: Dreamy Atmosphere
The song sets its mood before the voice enters, and it is soon clear that this is not a copy of the bouncing reggae original.
Verse 1: Ethereal Vocals
Aloe Blacc sings the opening verse, with its giant steps and its first steps on the moon, close and warm, letting the melody breathe.
Chorus: Uplifting Melody
The refrain arrives, the title line repeated as it has been since 1979, in Blacc’s warmer register.
Bridge: Sonic Exploration
The song’s middle section, in which the singer brushes off those who say he is wishing his days away, gives the voice a moment to speak directly before the refrain returns.
Climax: Emotional Resonance
The last refrains gather the song’s warmth, Blacc’s voice carrying them without rushing.
Outro: Gentle Conclusion
The song eases out on its title phrase, as if drifting back down to earth.
Concepts in Focus
A cover version can be faithful or can transform a song; Roseaux do the second while keeping every word. The Police built the original on a bass riff Sting called weird and jazzy, with Andy Summers’ chord landing after each bass phrase, a reggae pulse that made a British number one. Moved into soul, the same song leans towards a love song rather than a dance.
The project shows another use of the <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist. Roseaux is a collective of musicians, Emile Omar, Alex Finkin and Clément Petit, and on their first album every song is sung by a guest, Aloe Blacc, credited as the featured voice. Omar, a programmer at Radio Nova, had spotted Blacc and invited him to sing long before his solo success.
Artistic Context
Roseaux recorded an album of covers from the underground black music repertoire with Aloe Blacc around 2007, but it was only released in November 2012, after Blacc’s rise with I Need a Dollar. The self-titled album came out on Fanon and Tôt ou Tard, and “Walking on the Moon” became its most famous track. A second album, Roseaux II, followed in 2019 and switched to original songs.
Cultural Impact
The Police’s “Walking on the Moon”, the second single from Reggatta de Blanc, was their second UK number one. Roseaux’s cover introduced it to a soul audience more than three decades later and introduced many listeners to Roseaux through it. It invites a simple experiment: play the original and this version back to back, and listen to how the same melody can bounce or float.
