Don't Stand So Close to Me



"Don't Stand So Close to Me" is a hit song by the British rock band the Police, released in September 1980 as the lead single from their third album Zenyatta Mondatta. It concerns a schoolgirl's crush on her teacher which leads to an affair, which in turn is discovered.

The band's third  on the UK Singles Chart, it was also the best selling single of 1980 in the UK. The song also charted in the top ten in Australia, Canada and the US. The Police won the 1981 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for this song.

Background
The music and lyrics of the song were written by the lead singer of The Police, Sting. The song deals with the mixed feelings of lust, fear and guilt that a female student has for a school teacher and vice versa, and inappropriateness leading to confrontation which is unravelled later on in the song. The line "Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov" alludes to Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, which covers somewhat similar issues. After being criticised for rhyming "cough" with "Nabokov," Sting replied, "I've used that terrible, terrible rhyme technique a few times. Technically, it's called a feminine rhyme – where it's so appalling it's almost humorous. You don't normally get those type of rhymes in pop music and I'm glad!"

Before joining The Police, Sting had previously worked as an English teacher. Sting said of the song in 1981:

"I wanted to write a song about sexuality in the classroom. I'd done teaching practice at secondary schools and been through the business of having 15-year-old girls fancying me – and me really fancying them! How I kept my hands off them I don't know... Then there was my love for Lolita which I think is a brilliant novel. But I was looking for the key for eighteen months and suddenly there it was. That opened the gates and out it came: the teacher, the open page, the virgin, the rape in the car, getting the sack, Nabokov, all that."

- Sting

In 1993, however, he said of the song's inspiration, "You have to remember we were blond bombshells at the time and most of our fans were young girls so I started role playing a bit. Let's exploit that." In a 2001 interview for the concert DVD ...All This Time, Sting denied that the song is autobiographical.

"Don't Stand So Close to Me" appeared on The Police's album Zenyatta Mondatta (A&M), and became a hit No. 1 UK single, along with a corresponding music video. In the US, it reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 10. In the UK, the track was confirmed by the end of 1980 to have been the biggest selling single of that year.

The B-side, "Friends", was written by Andy Summers and is inspired by Stranger in a Strange Land, a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. Summers described the track as "Very quirky. A touch of Long John Silver on Acid."

Sting was asked to perform on Mark Knopfler's "Money for Nothing" as he was in Montserrat at the time, and accidentally reused the melody from "Don't Stand So Close to Me" in the counterpoint lyric "I want my MTV." It was only after this story was relayed to reporters during promotions for the Brothers in Arms album that lawyers for Sting became involved, and later copies of the album co-credit the song to Sting. The initial pressings list only Knopfler. It is one of only two shared songwriting credits on any Dire Straits album.

Composition
"Don't Stand So Close to Me" features Sting on lead vocals. Like many Police songs, the verses are more subdued, while the chorus is bolder and louder. The song also bears a reggae style, yet another common trait in Police songs. Thematically, the "wet bus stop" idea invites comparison with the 1966 hit song "Bus Stop" by another English group, The Hollies.

The track uses a guitar synthesizer in the middle of the song, which was used by guitarist Andy Summers. Summers said, "After Sting had put the vocals on 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' we looked for something to lift the middle of the song. I came up with a guitar synthesiser. It was the first time we'd used it. I felt it worked really well." The verses and choruses do not feature this effect.

Personnel

 * Sting – lead and backing vocals, bass guitar
 * Andy Summers – guitars, guitar synthesizer
 * Stewart Copeland – drums

Track listing
7-inch – A&M / AMS 7564 (UK)
 * 1) "Don't Stand So Close to Me" – 4:03
 * 2) "Friends" – 3:37

7-inch – A&M / AMS 2301 (US)
 * 1) "Don't Stand So Close to Me" – 4:03
 * 2) "A Sermon" – 2:34

UK chart history
"Don't Stand So Close To Me" quickly ascended to  in its first week of release on 27 September 1980, confirming their status as one of the UK's leading contemporary groups. It was also their third UK chart-topper in 12 months—in tandem with the  success of their new album Zenyatta Mondatta.

The band's four-week run at  was the most for any single in the UK in 1980. Having held off considerable competition from Ottawan with "D.I.S.C.O." and "Baggy Trousers" by Madness, The Police fell to  (being replaced at   by "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand). "Don't Stand So Close To Me" spent a total of 8 weeks inside the UK top 40, dropping out on 22 November. Three weeks later, their follow-up hit "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" charted at, eventually peaking at.

US chart history
"Don't Stand So Close To Me" broke into the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 on 21 February 1981 at. By 25 April, it reached a peak position of, matching their previous US hit "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da". It dropped out of the top 40 on 23 May after a 13-week run.

"Don't Stand So Close to Me '86"
The song was re-recorded in 1986 with a new, brooding arrangement, a different chorus and a more opulent production. The new version appeared as "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" on the album Every Breath You Take: The Singles, and was released as a single, reaching  in the British charts. It also reached  in Ireland,   in New Zealand,   on the Netherlands MegaCharts Singles Chart (number 20 on Dutch Top 40),   in Canada and   on Billboard Hot 100 (  on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks).

Because of the decrease in tempo, a slight lyric change is found in the line "Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov" (the word 'famous' was added). A new music video was produced for the reworked song by Godley and Creme, notable for its early use of animated computer graphics.

Because drummer Stewart Copeland had broken his collarbone and was unable to drum, he opted to use his Fairlight CMI to program the drum track for the single, while singer/bassist Sting pushed to use the drums on his Synclavier instead. The group's engineer found the Synclavier's programming interface difficult; it ended up taking him two days to complete the task. Copeland ultimately finished the drum programming and claimed that the Fairlight's then-legendary "Page R" (the device's sequencing page) saved his life and put him on the map as a composer. In a Qantas inflight radio program named "Reeling in the Years", Copeland was quoted as saying that the argument over Synclavier versus Fairlight drums was "the straw that broke the camel's back," and that this led to the group's unravelling.

As the Police had already disbanded by the time the 1986 single was released, this, aside from the then-unreleased "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da '86," was the last recording before the band's reunion and the most recent studio recording the band has released.

Track listing
7-inch – A&M / AM 354 (UK)
 * 1) "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" – 4:47
 * 2) "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (live) – 3:40

12-inch – A&M / AMY 354 (UK)
 * 1) "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" (dance mix) – 6:32
 * 2) "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" – 4:47
 * 3) "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (original version) – 4:03
 * 4) "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (live) – 3:40

Glee cover
The song was covered in the episode "Ballad" of the American television series Glee in 2009. It was performed by the character Will Schuester (played by Matthew Morrison) as a musical mashup with "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. It was included on the second soundtrack album from the series.

The single version charted at  in Canada,   in the United States and   in Ireland.

In other media
The song was featured in "Mars vs. Mars", an episode of the American television series Veronica Mars. The song was also featured in the season one, episode 9 of Friends 'The One Where Underdog Gets Away' to coincide with a joke of Joey being a poster-child for STDS. The song was featured in The Office season 3, episode 19, Phyllis’ Wedding when Kevin Malone’s band “Scrantonicity” performs it for Phyllis’ wedding reception. Their band name is after The Police’s album “Synchronicity”.

During several parts of Zoolander 2, Sting calls Hansel (who is established as Hansel's biological father) on numerous occasions, often quoting songs such as "Don't Stand So Close To Me", and "Spirits in the Material World".