Zenyatta Mondatta is the third album by The Police, released in 1980 (see 1980 in music).

Written during the band's second tour and recorded in just four weeks (minus several days for a short tour of Holland), the album is generally regarded as the band's weakest album, even by the members themselves. Stewart Copeland, who contributed the songs "Bombs Away" and "The Other Way of Stopping", 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... It was cutting it very fine."

Nevertheless, Zenyatta Mondatta went to #5 in the U.S. and #1 in the U.K., 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". 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 itself 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. Perhaps due to the lack of time for writing lyrics, the record has three instrumentals, "Voices Inside My Head", "The Other Way of Stopping", and the Grammy-winning "Behind My Camel". The latter was guitarist Andy Summers' first entirely self-penned composition, and it was not popular with the other members of the band. 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."

Zenyatta Mondatta is also notable for containing the first lyrics referring to political events, with Sting's "Driven To Tears" commenting on poverty and Copeland's "Bombs Away" referencing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. These themes would become more prevalent in the Police's next album, Ghost in the Machine.

Track listing

1. "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (Sting) - 4:04
2. "Driven to Tears" (Sting) - 3:20
3. "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around" (Sting) - 3:38
4. "Canary in a Coalmine" (Sting) - 2:26
5. "Voices Inside My Head" (Sting) - 3:53
6. "Bombs Away" (Copeland) - 3:09
7. "De Do Do Do, De da da Da" (Sting) - 4:09
8. "Behind My Camel" (Summers) - 2:54
9. "Man in a Suitcase" (Sting) - 2:19
10. "Shadows in the Rain" (Sting) - 5:02
11. "The Other Way of Stopping" (Copeland) - 3:22

Personnel

• Stewart Copeland - drums, vocals
• Sting - bass, vocals
• Andy Summers - guitar, vocals

Production

• Producers: The Police, Nigel Gray
• Engineer: Nigel Gray
• Mastering: Bob Ludwig
• Art direction: Michael Ross
• Design: Michael Ross, Simon Ryan
• Photography: Watalu Asanuma, Janette Beckman, Adrian Boot, Miles Copeland, Anton Corbijn, Danny Quatrochi, Michael Ross, Kim Turner
• Cover photo: Janette Beckman

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Awards

Grammy Awards