‘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.
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.
‘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’. At the time of its release in 1989, Roland Orzabal considered this to be the most overtly political song that Tears for Fears had ever recorded. Many of the lyrics refer to UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher specifically with the lines: "Politician granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels?" (Mrs Thatcher that year having had her first grandchild born.)
Musically and lyrically complex, this evokes some of the more experimental Beatles songs of the late '60s. "With 'Sowing the Seeds of Love' we felt it was sufficiently different for us to release as a single," Curt Smith told Outlook magazine. "People can say it sounds like 'I Am The Walrus' or whatever, but in sound quality alone it's miles ahead of anything like that."
Early in the video, one visual effect shows the iconic symbol from the back of a US $1 bill, the pyramid with the glowing eye on top. This spooky-looking occult symbol is called "The Eye of Providence," and it goes all the way back to ancient Egypt (look up the "eye of Horus") and Buddhism; the Freemasons didn't grab onto it until the 1700s, so it is not original with them, as is commonly misconceived. Other religious symbolism includes spinning Buddhas and Egyptian Ankhs, plus a sort-of Pagan-looking sun. The stylishly produced video was cutting-edge for 1989, which didn't hurt its popularity a bit. Director Jim Blashfield picked up two MTV Music Video Awards, for Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects.
Label – Fontana
Songwriters – Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith
Producers – Tears for Fears, Dave Bascombe
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1: Roland Orzabal]High time we made a stand
And shook up the views of the common man
And the love train rides from coast to coast
D.J.'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
[Chorus 1: Curt Smith & Roland Orzabal]
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
[Verse 2: Roland Orzabal]
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
[Chorus 2: Curt Smith & Roland Orzabal]
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
[Post-Chorus 1: Roland Orzabal]
Sowing the seeds
The birds and the bees
My girlfriend and me
In love
[Interlude]
[Bridge 1: Roland Orzabal]
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
[Chorus 3: Roland Orzabal]
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
[Bridge 2: Curt Smith, Curt Smith & Roland Orzabal]
Time to eat all your words
Swallow your pride
Open your eyes
Time to eat all your words
Swallow your pride
Open your eyes
[Verse 3: Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith]
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
[Chorus 4: Curt Smith & Roland Orzabal]
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
[Post-Chorus 2: Roland Orzabal]
An end to need
And the politics of greed
With love
[Chorus 5: Curt Smith & Roland Orzabal]
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
[Post-Chorus 2: Roland Orzabal]
An end to need
(What about the workers?)
And the politics of greed
With love
[Chorus 6: Curt Smith & Roland Orzabal]
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