One of the most remarkable bands to emerge in the 1980s has to be Tears for Fears. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith: an English twosome who, I feel, revolutionized music by merging new romantic/new wave sensibilities with the rawness of arena rock, mixed with socio-political consciousness.
“Sowing the Seeds of Love” perfectly represents all those aspects of the band. And it mixes in a massive influence of the Beatles in an epic song that seems like it lasts much longer than the six minutes and sixteen seconds that The Seeds of Love album version runs, because there are so many changes in the song’s tempo and direction.
High time we made a stand
And shook up the views of the common man
And the love train rides from coast to coast
DJ’s the man we love the most
Could you be, could you be squeaky clean
And smash any hope of democracy?
As the headline says you’re free to choose
There’s egg on your face and mud on your shoes
One of these days they’re gonna call it the blues, yeah, yeah
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
(Anything is possible when you’re sowing the seeds of love)
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love
(Anything is possible)
Seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds
I spy tears in their eyes
They look to the skies for some kind of divine intervention
Food goes to waste
So nice to eat, so nice to taste
Politician granny with your high ideals
Have you no idea how the majority feels?
So without love and a promised land
We’re fools to the rules of a government plan
Kick out the style, bring back the jam
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
(Anything)
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds
The birds and the bees
My girlfriend and me
In love
Feel the pain, talk about it
If you’re a worried man, then shout about it
Open hearts, feel about it
Open minds, think about it
Everyone, read about it
Everyone, scream about it
Everyone
Everyone, yeah, yeah
Everyone read about it, read about it
Everyone
Read it in the books, in the crannies and the nooks, there are books to read for us
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
We’re sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love
We’re sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
Mr. England sowing the seeds of love
Time to eat all your words
Swallow your pride
Open your eyes
Time to eat all your words
Swallow your pride
Open your eyes
High time we made a stand
Time to eat all your words
And shook up the views of the common man
Swallow your pride
And the love train rides from coast to coast
Open your eyes
Every minute of every hour
I love a sunflower
Open your eyes
And I believe in love power
Open your eyes
Love power
Love power
Open your eyes
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds
An end to need
And the politics of greed
With love
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
(Anything, anything)
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds
An end to need
And the politics of greed
With love
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
(“Sowing the Seeds of Love,” by Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith.
Unofficial lyrics are courtesy of AZLyrics.com.)
I remember when the album came out in 1989. It was a few years past my “friends 2.0” period as that group had pretty much dispersed. I’d married, and we were starting to bring in the idea of children (who wouldn’t arrive for another three years). I was firmly into my railway career, though the economic downturn of the mid-to-late 1980s had taken a toll and resulted in significant cutbacks and job losses, reducing chances for job advancement. By the way, my partner liked the song so much she took the record to work to play this song for her students as an example of the baritone saxophone being a cool instrument to study and play.
I was drawn back into Tears for Fears and its new music, having been spellbound by their earlier releases (as I mention in my post on “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”). Today I listened to Songs from the Big Chair (1985). As always, I was mesmerized by the transitions between each of the tracks on the B-side. That’s a recording and production style I don’t know that I’ve ever seen happen since that album.
Back to The Seeds of Love, the cover art is remarkable; it also harkens back to some of the Beatles’ more extravagantly elaborate record covers. It also perhaps reveals part of the reason the album cost about one million GBP to produce (compared to about GBP 70,000 for Songs from the Big Chair).
In “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” the lyric “Politician granny with your high ideals / Have you no idea how the majority feels?” was Orzabal introducing his interest in socialism after the re-election of Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) as the British prime minister.
Though the song carries a jadedness about politics, it calls for people to replace greed with love and see love as the world’s real power. It’s a beautiful and admirable ideal, though 32 years after its release, it’s still essentially a dream. We need to sow more seeds.
Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here, and please enjoy.
Here’s the video for the song from the Tears for Fears official YouTube channel:
Song of the Day for Today 