Singled Out: Sun Domingo's A Song In Your Name

"A Song in Your Name" is the result of a very brief "love" (for lack of a better word) triangle and the emotional fallout that followed. The song is about a girl named Roxanne in South Carolina. We covered (and still do) the Police song by the same name; she was always tickled when we played it and I was happy to sing it as she smiled back from the audience. At the time we met her, she was living in an extended-stay hotel (perhaps had just transferred to town for work?) and this was where we first hung out with her in an after-show sense. She was fairly young, having probably just finished college, and this hotel room probably signified a number of things - one of which being her budding life as an independent adult. At the time, I still approached random relationships with some greenness, some naivete, and so my feelings waxed toward romantic well sooner than they should have. The song paints the picture of a girl who wants to be treated well but, perhaps in spite of herself, chooses the more adult option for a fast-track to deflowering. The motto here is one of "nice guys finish last" - and the song is written from the perspective of that nice guy looking back and lamenting the harsh reality of relationships. After things went south between us, she would still come out to shows now and again for a year or so - but I never wanted to sing "Roxanne" in her presence ever again. The magic was gone, my feelings trampled, my outlook hardened, and I was irrevocably changed. In retrospect I'm certain I missed any and all deflowering in Roxanne's department, but as they say, "hindsight is 20/20." I ran into her a couple of years ago at a restaurant in Charleston; I went up and told her that she has a song - for which she was decidedly unimpressed - and the look on her face said that she was more excited about returning to her clam chowder.