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Sowing the Seeds of Love
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Wikipedia article
"'Sowing the Seeds of Love'" is a song by English pop rock band Tears for Fears. It was released as the first single from their third studio album, 'The Seeds of Love' (1989).
The song was a worldwide hit, topping the Canadian 'RPM' Top Singles chart and reaching the top ten in Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and on the European Hot 100. In the United States, it reached 2 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100, becoming their fourth and last top 10 hit. It also reached 1 on both the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the 'Cash Box' Top 100.
Background
The song incorporates a number of musical styles and recording techniques, with a number of reviewers considering it a pastiche of the Beatles, produced in a style reminiscent of their late 1960s output. 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. At the time of its release, he considered this to be the most overtly political song that Tears for Fears had ever recorded. The lyrics refer to Thatcher's election win with "Politician granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels?"
Elsewhere, the song takes a dig at fellow musician Paul Weller with the line "Kick out the style, bring back The Jam" (Weller was performing with The Style Council at the time).
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"). 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.
Music video
The music video 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 Mir" 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. 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.[http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/1990/ MTV - Video Awards (1990)]
Release
The single was released on multiple formats, including a 7-inch single, a 12-inch single, a 12-inch picture disc, a cassette single, and a CD single.
Track listings
'7-inch and cassette single'# "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (7-inch version)
# "Tears Roll Down"
'UK 12-inch and European CD single'
# "Sowing the Seeds of Love (full version)
# "Tears Roll Down"
# "Shout" (U.S. remix)
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.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
See also
*List of RPM number-one singles of 1989
*List of Billboard number-one alternative singles of the 1980s
References
Category:1989 singles
Category:1989 songs
Category:Fontana Records singles
Category:Music videos directed by Jim Blashfield
Category:Cashbox number-one singles
Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Category:Songs written by Curt Smith
Category:Songs written by Roland Orzabal
Category:Tears for Fears songs
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