De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da

This song is about the way politicians, priests, entertainers, and others in power use words to manipulate people. Sting called it "an articulate song about being inarticulate."

Sting wrote this when he became interested in songs with nonsense lyrics, like "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "Tutti Frutti," and "Da Doo Ron Ron." He wanted to find out why they work and write one of his own. He claimed it was his son who came up with the title.

Sting claims that people who dismiss this song have not bothered to listen to the lyrics. He said in a 1981 interview with the NME: "Certainly what we're producing is not elitist High Art: But; equally; I think entertainment's an art. I think my songs are fairly literate - they're not rubbish. 'De Do Do Do', for example, was grossly misunderstood: the lyrics are about banality, about the abuse of words. Almost everyone who reviewed it said, 'Oh, this is baby talk.' They were just listening to the chorus alone, obviously. But they're the same people who would probably never get through the first paragraph of Finnegan's Wake, because that's 'baby talk' too."