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Sowing the Seeds of Love

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"Sowing the Seeds of Love"
Single by Tears for Fears
from the album The Seeds of Love
B-side"Tears Roll Down"
Released21 August 1989 (1989-08-21)[1]
Genre
Length
  • 6:19 (album version)
  • 5:48 (single edit)
  • 4:04 (US radio edit)
LabelFontana
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Tears for Fears
  • Dave Bascombe
Tears for Fears singles chronology
"Mothers Talk [US remix]"
(1986) 		"Sowing the Seeds of Love"
(1989) 		"Woman in Chains"
(1989)
Music video
"Sowing the Seeds of Love" on YouTube

"Sowing the Seeds of Love" is a song by English pop rock band Tears for Fears. It was released in August 1989 as the first single from their third studio album, The Seeds of Love (1989).

The song was a worldwide hit, topping the Canadian RPM 100 Singles chart and reaching the top 10 in Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their fourth and last top 10 hit. It also reached No. 1 on both the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the Cash Box Top 100.

Background

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The song's title was inspired by a radio programme that Orzabal had heard at the time about folk song collector Cecil Sharp. One of the songs was called "The Seeds of Love", which Sharp learned from a gardener called Mr. England (reflected in the lyric "Mr. England sowing the seeds of love")[4] in 1903. Sharp overheard John England singing the song, and was inspired to look more deeply into English traditional songs. "The Seeds of Love" was therefore the first song that Sharp collected, and the one that sparked the English folk song revival.[5]

"Sowing the Seeds of Love" incorporates a number of musical styles and recording techniques, with a number of reviewers considering it a pastiche of the Beatles, produced in a tempo and style reminiscent of their late 1960s output, even for the use of a brief trumpet line very similar to the one that can be heard in "Penny Lane".[6] It was written in June 1987, during the week of the UK General Election in which Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party won a third consecutive term in office. The election prompted Roland Orzabal to take an interest in politics, with a special interest in socialism due to Thatcher's attitudes towards the working class. At the time of its release in 1989, he considered this to be the most overtly political song that Tears for Fears had ever recorded. The lyrics refer to Thatcher specifically with the lines: "Politician granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels?"[7][8] (Mrs Thatcher that year having had her first grandchild born.)[9]

Elsewhere, the song takes a dig at fellow musician Paul Weller with the line "Kick out the style, bring back the jam" as Orzabal felt Weller had lost touch with his working class political outlook after the dissolution of his previous band The Jam in lieu of the less political material he was writing with his current band The Style Council at the time. In the third verse, the lyrics mention a sunflower, which references a piece of graffiti that Orzabal found on a wall near his house in London.[10]

Orzabal took further inspiration from "I Am the Walrus" when developing the song, including the tempo changes. However, David Bascombe, who served as the engineer and producer for these sessions, recalled that the band instead derived the tempo from a parody of the song titled "Piggy in the Middle", which was created by The Rutles.[11][12]

Critical reception

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David Giles from Music Week wrote, "They've pulled out all the stops here. There seems to be three or four different songs all competing for prominence, but it's the full-blown rousing chorus that wins through, and don't be surprised to see it hurtling number one-wards."[13]

Stephen Holden of The New York Times thought that the song evoked the "treadmill rhythms, trumpet-laced textures and exhortatory mood of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'" by The Beatles.[6] David Marsh of The Guardian also noted several musical references that evoked the work of The Beatles, including "I Am the Walrus", Penny Lane", and "A Day in the Life". He also highlighted some of the production choices, including the "random shouts, screams and whoops in the background."[14]

Music video

[edit]

The accompanying music video for "Sowing the Seeds of Love" was directed by Jim Blashfield, who had already made acclaimed videos for Joni Mitchell ("Good Friends"), Paul Simon ("The Boy in the Bubble") and Michael Jackson ("Leave Me Alone"). Joanna Priestley directed the "Joan Miró" section of the video for Jim Blashfield and Associates. It was animated with pencil on paper, transferred to punched acetate sheets and painted with Cel Vinyl acrylic paints.[15] The video won two awards at the MTV Music Video Awards: Best Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects. It was also nominated in the "Best Group Video" and "Best Postmodern Video" categories.[16]

Release

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The single was released in August 1989 on multiple formats, including a 7-inch single, a 12-inch single, a 12-inch picture disc, a cassette single, and a CD single. An abridged version of "Sowing the Seeds of Love" was included on the 7-inch single, which was trimmed to 5 minutes and 43 seconds in duration. The 12-inch single included the album version of "Sowing the Seeds of Love" with "Tears Roll Down", a largely instrumental non-album track as the B-side. Orzabal reworked "Tears Roll Down" into "Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)" for the release of the band's Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82–92) compilation album.[12]

In the United States, "Sowing the Seeds of Love" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 53 on the week date 2 September 1989. During its ninth week on the chart, it peaked at No. 2, where it was held back from the number one spot by Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much".[17] As such, the song became the band's highest charting single in the United States since "Shout".[10] It spent 15 weeks in the top 100; all but three of those weeks were spent in the top 40.[18][19] Orzabal commented that the song's failure to reach number one "gave the American record company an excuse to take their foot off the gas."[12]

"Sowing the Seeds of Love" debuted at No. 9 on the UK singles chart on the week dated 2 September 1989. Two weeks later, it peaked at number five. The song spent a total of nine weeks in the top 75.[20]

Track listings

[edit]
  1. "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (7-inch version)
  2. "Tears Roll Down"
  • UK 12-inch and European CD single[23][24]
  1. "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (full version)
  2. "Tears Roll Down"
  3. "Shout" (U.S. remix)

Note: The B-side track "Tears Roll Down" is an early, mostly instrumental version of "Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)", which was released as a single in 1992 and included on the band's greatest hits album of the same name.

Personnel

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Charts

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "News" (PDF). Record Mirror. 19 August 1989. p. 4. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  2. ^ Deggans, Eric (1998). "Tears for Fears". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. p. 1128.
  3. ^ a b Rolli, Bryan (11 January 2024). "Top 35 Songs of 1989". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  4. ^ Thrills, Adrian (1990). Tears for Fears – The Seeds of Love. London, UK: Virgin Books. ISBN 0-86369-329-6.
  5. ^ bibleofbritishtaste (16 February 2013). "How Cecil Sharp sowed the seeds of love". Bible of British Taste. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  6. ^ a b Stephen Holden (21 February 1990). "Disciples of the Beatles". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  7. ^ "Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love (Super Deluxe Edition)". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Pop Classics #54: Tears For Fears - Sowing The Seeds Of Love - God Is In The TV". 1 October 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  9. ^ Charlie Cooper (17 April 2013). "After the Iron Lady's granddaughter Amanda opens funeral service at St Paul's Cathedral – we introduce you to the rest of the Thatcher family". The Independent. London.
  10. ^ a b Spicer, Mark (10 August 2023). The Beatles and Humour. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. pp. 239–241. ISBN 978-1-1053-7937-6.
  11. ^ Womack, Kenneth (2014). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four. USA: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9798216052005.
  12. ^ a b c Sinclair, Paul (21 August 2019). "SDE Exclusive: Tears For Fears on the making of Sowing The Seeds of Love – SuperDeluxeEdition". Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  13. ^ Giles, David (2 September 1989). "Singles" (PDF). Music Week. p. 23. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  14. ^ Marsh, David (27 September 2012). "Old music: Tears for Fears – The Seeds of Love". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Hiroshima 2014 International Jury". hiroanim.org. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  16. ^ MTV - Video Awards (1990)
  17. ^ "Billboard Hot 100™ – Week of October 28, 1987". Billboard. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  18. ^ a b "Tears for Fears Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  19. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2010). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (9th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. p. 647. ISBN 978-0-8230-8554-5.
  20. ^ a b "Tears for Fears: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  21. ^ Sowing the Seeds of Love (UK 7-inch single sleeve). Tears for Fears. Fontana Records. 1989. IDEAG 12, 874 996-7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  22. ^ Sowing the Seeds of Love (UK cassette single sleeve). Tears for Fears. Fontana Records. 1989. IDMC 12, 874 710-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  23. ^ Sowing the Seeds of Love (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Tears for Fears. Fontana Records. 1989. IDEAT 12, 874 711-1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  24. ^ Sowing the Seeds of Love (UK CD single liner notes). Tears for Fears. Fontana Records. 1989. IDCD 12, 874 711-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  25. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  26. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  27. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  28. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6592." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  29. ^ "RPM 30 Retail Singles". RPM. Vol. 51, no. 2. 11 November 1989. p. 22. ISSN 0033-7064 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  30. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 40. 7 October 1989. p. IV. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  31. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  32. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love" (in French). Les classement single.
  33. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Sowing the Seeds of Love". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  34. ^ "Top 3 Singles in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 46. 18 November 1989. p. VII. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  35. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Tears for Fears" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  36. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  37. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love". Top 40 Singles.
  38. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  39. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love". Singles Top 100.
  40. ^ "Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love". Swiss Singles Chart.
  41. ^ "Tears for Fears Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  42. ^ "Tears for Fears Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  43. ^ "Tears for Fears Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  44. ^ "Tears for Fears Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  45. ^ "Top 100 Singles" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. LIII, no. 17. 4 November 1989. p. 15. ISSN 0008-7289 – via World Radio History.
  46. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  47. ^ "Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – 1989". ARIA. Retrieved 7 January 2020 – via Imgur.
  48. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1989 – Singles" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  49. ^ "Top 100 Singles of '89". RPM. Vol. 51, no. 8. 23 December 1989. p. 8. ISSN 0033-7064 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  50. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 – 1989" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 51. 23 December 1989. p. 6. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  51. ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1989" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  52. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1989" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  53. ^ "Year End Singles" (PDF). Record Mirror. 27 January 1990. p. 44. ISSN 0144-5804 – via World Radio History.
  54. ^ "Hot 100 Songs – Year-End 1989". Billboard. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  55. ^ a b "1989 The Year in Music – Top Album Rock Tracks / Top Modern Rock Tracks" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 101, no. 51. 23 December 1989. p. Y-58. ISSN 0006-2510 – via World Radio History.
  56. ^ "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1989 – Top 50 Pop Singles". Cash Box. 30 December 1989. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
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