Songfacts®:

• "Sally" is an inflatable sex doll. This is made clear by a short poem written and recited by Andy Summers during the middle section of the song. The rest of the track was based on an unfinished Sting piece.
• This was an early example of the band's twisted sense of humor, which would resurface in later Police songs such as "On Any Other Day", "Bombs Away" and "Murder By Numbers." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Joshua - La Crosse, WI, for above 2
• A song like this is an example of one that would get selective radio play when it came out, but wouldn't be considered for air on most commercial radio stations these days. In the book MTV Ruled the World - The Early Years of Music Video, Police drummer Stewart Copeland says that the early-'80s music business felt like a "mom-n-pop" operation compared to modern big-business juggernauts: "With each radio station, the chain of command would go up to the owner of that station in that city, and it wouldn't go any further than that. The MD (music director) and the owner of the station - they were right there in your face. Nowadays, the record company A&M is owned by Universal, which is owned by Seagrams, which is owned by Halliburton, which is owned by the dark planet. And there is no upper echelon that you could even get to. It's sort of like it disappears into the haze, the hierarchy. Directives come down, and it's difficult to make requests that go up, to get permits, licenses, or decisions."