Sowing The Seeds Of Love

Album

Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant

Label

Fontana Records

Genre

Orchestral pop

Composer(s)

Roland Orzabal;Curt Smith

Entered Chart

Sep 2, 1989

Peak Date

Oct 28, 1989

Released

21 August 1989

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Fontana 874 710-7

B-Side

Tears Roll Down

"Sowing the Seeds of Love" was a worldwide smash hit for Tears for Fears, second only to "Shout" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" for chart success. The song also charted in nine other countries besides the US and UK - most of those in the Top 10. The song is a throwback to '60s nostalgia (big in the late '80s) with a nod to The Beatles and a kind of Flower Power philosophy to it, including political lyrics starting with "High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man" and ending with "An end to need and the politics of greed." Written by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, the lyrics in this song are a byproduct of Orzabal's interest in psychology and philosophy - he cites Sartre's Les Mains Sales and Arthur Janov's Primal Scream as literary influences. The song is a call to action, asking us to reject the status quo: "High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man." The title was inspired by the English folk song "The Seeds Of Love," which Orzabal heard about on a radio program about folk tunes. As the story goes, Cecil Sharp (1859 - 1924), a noted scholar and collector of folk songs, overheard a gardener named John England humming the obscure tune as he mowed the lawn and persuaded him to recall the lyrics. The tale inspired Orzabal's own lyric, "Mr. England sowing the seeds of love." Early on 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 (an award he won the previous year for Michael Jackson's "Leave Me Alone"). The lyric "I love a sunflower" was inspired by a piece of graffiti on a wall near Orzabal's home. "I see it every day. I didn't know what to sing on a guide vocal for the track so I sang that instead of 'dada dada dada,'" he explained. "Then all of a sudden, 'Sowing The Seeds' is just about to come out and the Ecology Party do really well in the Euro-elections and their emblem is the sunflower. I didn't know that, it all seems to be fitting in now. These things are synchronous." Report this ad Orzabal on the criticism that "Seeds" is a naive song: "I don't have any problem with naivety. People, especially in England, have a tremendous problem with vision and creativity because it's intangible and because they may not themselves be able to materialize their vision, to earth their vision. So I don't have a problem with naivety or the archetype of love because from writing to recording, I'm turning the intangible into the tangible. So if something's naive and full of hope, then if you can make it happen it's fair enough." The UK-based Harmony Magazine sniffed of Tears for Fears in their Encyclopedia of Rock: "Pretentious pop duo who, on reflection, may be no more than the Peter & Gordon of the '80s." History has been somewhat kinder, magazine editors with an ax to grind notwithstanding. The line "Politician granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels?" takes aim at Margaret Thatcher, a staunch conservative who was about to serve her third consecutive term as British Prime Minister. 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."

High time, we made a stand
And shook up the views of the common man
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 head line 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, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, 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, yeah, yeah

Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
The birds and the bees
My girlfriend and me, in love

Feel the pain
Talk about it
If you're a wanted 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)
Everyone (everyone) read about it, read about it
Read it in the books, in the crannies and the nooks, there are books to read

(Sowing the seeds) Sowing the seeds of love, we're sowing the seeds,
Sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love
Sowing the seeds of love
Mister 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

Time to eat all your words (high time we made a stand and shook up the view of the common man)
Swallow your pride (and the love train rides from coast to coast)
Open your eyes (every minute of every hour)
Open your eyes (I love a sunflower)
Open your eyes (and I believe in love power, love power)
Open your eyes (love power)

Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love
Sowing the seeds, an end to need
And the politics of greed

Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love (hand in hand), seeds of love (hand in hand), sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
An end to need
The politics of greed

Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds
Sowing the seeds of love