'Moon Over Bourbon Street' appears on Sting's debut solo album, 1985's 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles'. The track became the fourth and final track from the album to be released as a single, peaking at the #44 position in the UK. Played throughout the 1985/86 tour, a live version of the track recorded in Arnhem can be found on the 'Bring On The Night' album. The song made a surprise but welcome reappearance on the 'Brand New Day' tour, where it was given a new lease of life thanks to Chris Botti's trumpet and Sting's gravelly vocals - a cross between Tom Waits and Louis Armstrong. The B-side, 'The Ballad Of Mack The Knife' appears also appears on the Kurt Weill tribute album 'Lost In The Stars'. The 12" version of the release also included the album version of 'Fortress Around Your Heart'.

"That was inspired by a book by Ann Rice, called 'Interview With The Vampire', a beautiful book about this vampire which is a vampire by accident. He's immortal and he has to kill people to live, but he's been left with his conscience intact. He's this wonderful, poignant soul who has to do evil, yet wants to stop. Once again, it's the duality which interested me."
Sting, NME, 6/85

"The song was inspired by a book that was just given to me, somebody just handed to me after a gig - I think it was in New Orleans. We were staying in the French quarter, and I started to read this book late one night. It was one of those books I read in one sitting, I was totally enchanted by this story. Not so much by the character Lestat who everybody seemed to like, but by the other character. The Louis character interested me far more, he seemed to be much more reflective and much more interesting in a way, and I wrote 'Moon Over Bourbon Street' based on that one reading. The idea of being a vampire and being a predator, but regretting it all the time knowing that there was something morally wrong with your lusts and your hunger, and I love the struggle that is going on in that character's head. There was a kind of movement of people who thought that Lestat who became a rock star in resulting books was based on me. He wasn't the character I was interested in at all."
Sting, 'All This Time' CDROM, '95

"The songs about a vampire. It's told from his point of view. I wrote the song very late one night in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It was a full moon, the streets were empty, and I remembered very vividly a book by Anne Rice called 'Interview With The Vampire'. It's about a well-educated gentleman who becomes a vampire. But he's been left with a conscience, which is tragic for a vampire because he has to do all these terrible things. It's basically a song about loneliness and alienation. But it's also about being pulled toward things you know you should stay away from."
Sting, Musician, 7/85