The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me May 2026

Sting famously references Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita with the line: "It's no use, he sees her / He starts to shake and cough / Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov."

Andy Summers used a guitar synthesizer (the Roland GR-300) to create those haunting, ethereal pads in the intro that immediately set a mood of unease. The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me

The song tells the uncomfortable story of an inappropriate attraction between a schoolteacher and his female student. While many fans at the time speculated it was autobiographical—Sting had been a teacher before the band took off—he has consistently maintained it is a work of fiction. The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me