Originally released in 1980 on the album Zenyatta Mondatta, this song was
re-recorded by The Police in 1986; significantly, that recording has proven to
be the last new studio material ever released by the group (although they never
officially broke up). Starting with Ghost in the Machine (the album following
Zenyatta), The Police sound began to change from their original
reggae influenced rock sound (higher Stewart Copeland to Sting ratio), to a
softer, polished, and more commercial sound (lower Stewart Copeland to Sting
ratio, as evidenced by the similarity to String's solo work). "Don't Stand So
Close To Me 86" seems an effort to move the song from the former sound to
the latter. Sting and Stewart spent the studio production time feuding. Stewart
says "We exchanged long, mutually abusive letters and took turns in the
studio recording over each other's parts." Though Sting believes the new
recording "seemed much more poignant than the original", Andy
Summers sensibly says "the track is all right, but the original is much
better."*
Part of the melody of the original recording made it into Dire Straits' song
"Money For Nothing". Instead of singing "don't stand so, don't
stand so, don't stand so close to me", Sting on backup sings "I want
my, I want my, I want my MTV" to the same tune. Despite this being an
arguably unnecessary and limited contribution to an otherwise entirely original
work, Sting receives half the songwriting royalties for "Money For
Nothing" thanks to this contribution, as well as the royalties for his backup vocals.
* Quotes are from the book accompanying Message in a Box, The Police box set | 
