Zenyatta Mondatta (stylised as Zenyattà Mondatta on the album cover artwork) is the third studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 3 October 1980 by A&M Records. It was co-produced by the band and Nigel Gray.
Zenyatta Mondatta reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and number five on the US Billboard 200. It produced the hit singles "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da". The album won the band two Grammy Awards: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Behind My Camel".
Recording
Zenyatta Mondatta was written during the Police's second tour and recorded in four weeks (minus several days for concerts in Ireland and at the Milton Keynes festival in the United Kingdom). The band members have often expressed disappointment over the album, going so far as to re-record two songs during a brief, unsuccessful reunion in 1986. 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."
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. 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 had 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 at that point had become established stars).
As mentioned by Copeland, the Police embarked on a tour of the world the day of the album's completion, beginning in Belgium and finishing in Australia.
Composition
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" (named from a line in Bob Newhart's "The Driving Instructor" routine) and "Behind My Camel". "Behind My Camel" was guitarist Andy Summers' first entirely self-penned composition. As bassist and vocalist Sting refused to play on it, 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." Nigel Gray believed that the title was an in-joke by 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."
"Bombs Away" was written and demoed using a Siouxsie and the Banshees tape. Copeland said that "when he first set up his home studio he got hold of a load of second hand tape which included some stuff by Siouxsie and the Banshees. 'Bombs Away' was written on a Siouxsie and the Banshees backing track. I changed the speed and did things to the EQ to change the drum pattern. So with the desk I can get my song playing, then press a switch and there's Siouxsie singing away."
Zenyatta 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 became more prevalent on the Police's next album, Ghost in the Machine.
Title
Stewart Copeland said that the group arrived at the album's title after deciding it should roll off the tongue. Zenyatta and Mondatta are invented words, hinting at Zen, at Jomo Kenyatta, at the French for 'the world' (), and at reggatta, from the title of the previous Police album, Reggatta de Blanc. As Copeland explained:
Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records, named the champion racehorse Zenyatta (born 2004) after the album. Blizzard Entertainment also named a character Zenyatta (and his brother, non-playable character – Mondatta) in the video game Overwatch. Additionally, in the English translation of the manga Stardust Crusaders published by VIZ Media, the characters Oingo and Boingo are renamed Zenyatta and Mondatta due to copyright laws.