Tears for Fears “Sowing the Seeds of Love” released

Sowing the Seeds of Love Tears for Fears

Writer(s): Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith (see lyrics here) Released: August 21, 1989 First Charted: September 1, 1989 Peak: 2 US, 11 CB, 4 RR, 29 AC, 4 AR, 11 MR, 5 UK, 13 CN, 13 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 51.25 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Tears for Fears hit the big time with their 1985 sophomore album, Songs from the Big Chair. The #1 hits “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Shout” pushed the album to #1 and multi-platinum status in the U.S. When the duo waited four years – an eternity in the world of pop music – to release a follow-up album, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if it flopped commercially. Instead, The Seeds of Love was another top-10 platinum release. The lead single, “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” made it all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also topped the alternative chart, a feat new to a Tears for Fears song since the chart hadn’t existed during the last album. The song “is a throwback to ‘60s nostalgia” and Flower Power. SF It has been called “a pastiche of the Beatles” because it was “produced in a style reminscient of their late 1960s output.” WK It was inspired by a radio program about Cecil Sharp (1859-1924), a scholar and folk song collector. He overheard a gardner named John England singing a song called “The Seeds of Love.” It inspired Sharp to look into English traditional songs, which sparked the English folk song revival. WK The song was written in June 1987 in response to staunch conservative Margaret Thatcher winning her third consecutive term as Britain’s Prime Minister. Roland Orzabal, who’d never particularly taken an interest in politics, considered this the band’s most “overtly political song.” WK It refers to Thatcher as “Politician granny with your high ideas/ Have you no idea how the majority feels?” He advocates, “High time we made a stand / And shook up the views of the common man.” Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Tears for Fears SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 8/5/2022.