“Don’t Stand So Close To Me” begins by shedding light on the popular phenomenon that takes place in schools; young girls admiring their teachers. This usually takes place because adolescent girls often look up to their teachers, hence when they are undergoing puberty, it is easy for them to feel attracted to them.

');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; })();

In the song, Sting tells the story of a young student who has developed feelings for her teacher who is twice older than her, and wants to be his lover. The narrator, who takes the position of the teacher, talks about how this student’s friends are jealous because of her relationship with him. He admits that this girl has become extremely close to him, but he doesn’t want to do anything inappropriate with her because of her age.

The chorus is more of a plea to this student to keep a distance from the teacher so that he doesn’t get tempted to do anything unfitting with her. Since the teacher has noticed that other people are suspicious of his feelings for this student, he tells the girl to stay away, probably in the public eye so that no one finds out about them. And that is precisely where the song’s title (“Don’t Stand So Close To Me”) emanated from.

Summary: In all, this song is about a young teacher “trying” his best to resist the temptation of dating one of his young female students.

Autobiographical Lyrics?

Since this track was released in the early 1980s, many have been of the view that the lyrics might just be autobiographical. And why? This is because the song’s writer (Sting), prior to becoming globally famous worked as a school teacher. Considering this was way before Sting became famous, he actually was a “young teacher” at the school in which he taught.

');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; })();

Writing: Sting
Production: The Police and their frequent collaborator Nigel Gray
Album: The Police’s 1980 new wave hit album “Zenyatta Mondatta”
Song’s Year of Release: 1980

The Police released this in September of 1980 as one of the two singles from their “Zenyatta Mondatta” album of the same year.

“Don’t Stand So Close To Me” was a monster hit for the Police. It topped the singles chart in the UK and ended up being the UK’s most successful single of 1980.

Outside of Britain, this classic was also a major hit. For instance, it entered the top-10 in the United States and Canada.

Yes. It won a Grammy in 1982.