What literary work inspired Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me" song?

"Don't Stand So Close to Me" is a hit single by the British rock band The Police, released in September 1980 as the lead single from their third album "Zenyatta Mondatta". It concerns a schoolgirl's crush on her teacher which leads to an affair, which in turn is discovered. The Police won the 1982 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for this song.

The music and lyrics of the song were written by the lead singer of The Police, Sting. The song deals with the mixed feelings of lust, fear and guilt that a female student has for a school teacher and vice versa, and inappropriateness leading to confrontation which is unraveled later on in the song. The line "Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov" alludes to Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Lolita", which covers somewhat similar issues. After being criticized for rhyming "cough" with "Nabokov," Sting replied, "I've used that terrible, terrible rhyme technique a few times. Technically, it's called a feminine rhyme– where it's so appalling it's almost humorous. You don't normally get those type of rhymes in pop music and I'm glad!"

"Don't Stand So Close to Me" appeared on The Police's album "Zenyatta Mondatta"(A&M), and became a hit No. 1 UK single, along with a corresponding music video. In the US, it reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 10. In the UK, the track was confirmed by the end of 1980 to have been the biggest selling single of that year.