Zenyattà Mondatta

Zenyattà Mondatta
Studio album by The Police
Released	3 October 1980 (1980-10-03)
Recorded	July 7-August 7, 1980 Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Netherlands
Genre	New Wave, reggae fusion
Length	38:16
Label	A&M - AMLH 64831
Producer	The Police, Nigel Gray
The Police chronology
Reggatta de Blanc (1979) Zenyattà Mondatta (1980) Ghost in the Machine (1981)
Singles from Zenyattà Mondatta
"Don't Stand So Close to Me" Released: 19 September 1980 (1980-09-19) "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" Released: 5 December 1980 (1980-12-05)

Zenyattà Mondatta is the third album by The Police, released in 1980.

History

The album was written during the band's second tour and recorded in four weeks (minus several days for concerts in the U.K.- Milton Keynes festival - and Ireland). The band members have often expressed disappointment over it, going so far as to re-record two songs during a brief, unsuccessful reunion. Drummer Stewart Copeland said about the time pressures: "We had bitten off more than we could chew. ...we finished the album at 4 a.m. on the day we were starting our next world tour. We went to bed for a few hours and then traveled down to Belgium for the first gig. It was cutting it very fine."^[1]

The band had wanted to record the album at Surrey Sound, the recording site of their first two albums, but could not record at any British studio for tax reasons.^[1] They were, however, able to retain Nigel Gray as their co-producer, bringing him with them to Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands. Feeling that he'd played a significant part in The Police's first two albums, Gray negotiated for a £25,000 fee, which brought the album's total budget to £35,000(more than twice the combined budgets of their first two albums, but still exceptionally cheap for a band who were established stars).^[2]

As mentioned by Copeland, the Police embarked on a tour of the world the day of the album's completion, beginning in Belgium and reaching places such as India and Egypt.

The album is the last of the Police's early era, influenced by reggae and punk and featuring few musical elements on top of the core guitar, bass, and drums. The record has two instrumentals, "The Other Way of Stopping" and the Grammy-winning "Behind My Camel" (a third song, "Voices Inside My Head", is instrumental except for the words "Voices inside my head/ Echoes of things that you said", which are repeated a couple of times in the middle of the song). "Behind My Camel" was guitarist Andy Summers' first entirely self-penned composition. As with many of Summers and Copeland's compositions, Sting refused to play on it, an act of protest which usually resulted in the song in question being scrapped. Convinced of the song's quality, however, Andy Summers recorded the bass line himself, overdubbing the guitar parts. According to Sting, "I hated that song so much that, one day when I was in the studio, I found the tape lying on the table. So I took it around the back of the studio and actually buried it in the garden."^[3] Nigel Gray believes that the title was an in-joke by Andy Summers: "He didn't tell me this himself but I'm 98% sure the reason is this: what would you find behind a camel? A monumental pile of shit." The song would go on to win the 1982 Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.^[4]

Zenyattà Mondatta also saw the band's lyrics turning towards political events, with Sting's "Driven To Tears" commenting on poverty and Copeland's "Bombs Away" referring to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. These themes would become more prevalent in the Police's next album, Ghost in the Machine.

Six years later the band re-recorded "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da". The former was released on Every Breath You Take: The Singles, while the latter remains unreleased.

Copeland has claimed that the group arrived at the album's title after deciding it should roll off the tongue. Rejected titles included Caprido Von Renislam (referring to the street, Catharina van Renneslaan, where the studio was located) and Trimondo Blondomina (suggesting three blonds dominating the world). Zenyattà Mondatta are invented portmanteau words, hinting at Zen, at Jomo Kenyatta, at the French word for the world ("le monde") and at Reggatta, from the previous album's name, Reggatta de Blanc.

"It means everything," [Copeland] yelled back. "It's the same explanation that applies to the last two. It doesn’t have a specific meaning like ‘Police Brutality’ or ‘Police Arrest’, or anything predictable like that. Being vague it says a lot more. You can interpret it in a lot of different ways. It’s not an attempt to be mysterious, just syllables that sound good together, like the sound of a melody that has no words at all has a meaning." ... Stewart listed some of the rejected titles they had come up with. "Miles (Stewart’s brother and group manager) came up with "Trimondo Blondomina". Very subtle. Geddit? Like three blondes and the world. Then somebody thought of "Caprido Von Renislam". That rolls off the tongue. It was the address of the studio. That lasted until next morning.^[5]

Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records, named the champion filly racehorse Zenyatta (b. 2004) after this album.^[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[7]
Robert Christgau	(B) [8]
Rolling Stone	[9]

Zenyattà Mondatta went to #5 in the U.S.^[10] and #1 in the UK^[11] and Australia, spurred by the success of the Sting-penned singles "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da". It would later receive glowing reviews from re-assessments in Rolling Stone and Q Magazine, among others, but was the least well-received of the five albums by The Police, and the only one not to obtain a spot on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Sting, except where noted.^[12][13]. 

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Don't Stand So Close to Me"		4:04
2.	"Driven to Tears"		3:20
3.	"When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around"		3:38
4.	"Canary in a Coalmine"		2:26
5.	"Voices Inside My Head"		3:53
6.	"Bombs Away"	Stewart Copeland	3:09
7.	"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"		4:09
8.	"Behind My Camel"	Andy Summers	2:54
9.	"Man in a Suitcase"		2:19
10.	"Shadows in the Rain"		5:02
11.	"The Other Way of Stopping"	Stewart Copeland	3:22

Two other songs were recorded as the B-sides to "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", respectively.

• "Friends" (Summers) – 3:09
• "A Sermon" (Copeland) – 2:55

Personnel

• Sting – bass, lead vocals, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Stewart Copeland – drums, synthesizers, guitar on verses and chorus of "A Sermon"
• Andy Summers – guitar, guitar-synths, bass on "Behind My Camel", spoken word on "Friends"
• Nigel Gray - co-production and engineering
• Watalu Asanuma,Adrian Boot, Miles Copeland, Anton Corbijn, Danny Quatrochi - Photography
• Janette Beckman - Cover Photo, Photography
• Simon Ryan - Design
• Vartan - reissue art director
• Michael Ross - Art Direction, Design, Photography
• Bob Ludwig - remastering

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Peak Position
1980	UK Albums Chart	1[11]
	Billboard Pop Albums	5 [10]
1983	Billboard Pop Albums	129 [10]

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak Position
1980	"Don't Stand So Close to Me"	UK Singles Chart	1[11]
	"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"	UK Singles Chart	5[11]
		Billboard Pop Singles	10 [14]
1981	"Don't Stand So Close to Me"	Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks	11[15]
		Billboard Pop Singles	10 [15]
	"Driven to Tears"	Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks	35 [15]
	"Voices Inside My Head" / "When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around"	Billboard Club Play Singles	3 [15]

Certifications

Organization	Level	Date
BPI – UK	Gold	3 October 1980
BPI – UK	Platinum	3 October 1980
RIAA – U.S.	Gold	12 December 1980
RIAA – U.S.	Platinum	27 February 1981
RIAA – U.S.	2x Platinum	17 December 2001

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1981	"Behind My Camel"	Best Rock Instrumental Performance
1981	"Don't Stand So Close to Me"	Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

Covers and remixes

• The track "When the World Is Running Down" was remixed in 2000 and released as a single under the moniker "Different Gear Vs The Police". It reached number 28 in the UK Singles Chart, but it does not feature on any of The Police albums.
• The song "Man In a Suitcase" was covered by AFI as a bonus track on Answer That and Stay Fashionable.
• Sting would later perform his own version of "Shadows in the Rain" on his debut solo album The Dream of the Blue Turtles.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Sutcliffe, Phil & Fielder, Hugh (1981). L'Historia Bandido. London and New York: Proteus Books. ISBN 0-906071-66-6. Page 77.
2. ^ Sutcliffe, Phil & Fielder, Hugh (1981). L'Historia Bandido. London and New York: Proteus Books. ISBN 0-906071-66-6. Page 79.
3. ^ Garbarini, Vic (Spring 2000). "I think if we came back...", Revolver.
4. ^ Campion, Chris, 'Walking On The Moon: The Untold Story Of The Police And The Rise Of New Wave Rock, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2009 ISBN 978-0-470-28240-3
5. ^ Interview with Stewart Copeland, Chris Welch, Musicians Only, October 1980.
6. ^ DeRosa, Ed (February 8, 2011). "Driven To Tears suggested as name for Bernardini-Zenyatta foal", Thoroughbred Times.
7. ^ Prato, Greg. Zenyattà Mondatta at Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
8. ^ Album Review, robertchristgau.com.
9. ^ Album Review, Rolling Stone.
10. ^ ^{a b c} "allmusic (((Zenyatta Mondatta > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))". http://www.allmusic.com/album/r15505. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
11. ^ ^{a b c d} The Police in the UK Charts, The Official Charts.
12. ^ The Police. Zenyattà Mondatta. A&M Records, 1980.
13. ^ "Police, The - Zenyatta Mondatta (Vinyl, LP, Album)". Discogs.com. http://www.discogs.com/Police-Zenyatta-Mondatta/release/371546. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
14. ^ The Police Billboard Charts History, Billboard.com.
15. ^ ^{a b c d} "allmusic (((Zenyatta Mondatta > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles)))". http://www.allmusic.com/album/r15505. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 

Preceded by Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) by David Bowie	UK Albums Chart number one album 11 October – 7 November 1980	Succeeded by Guilty by Barbra Streisand
Preceded by Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono	Australian Kent Music Report number-one album 2 March 1981 – 8 March 1981	Succeeded by Back in Black by AC/DC