"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 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 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.
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
Writer/s: Curt Smith, Roland Orzabal
Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Downtown Music Publishing, Royalty Network
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 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". 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").[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.
This was my favorite song in THE WORLD when I was in Highschool. I listened to it all my life. It remained one of my favorite songs that defined who I was.
