"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 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"). 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"),