"Driven to Tears" | |
---|---|
Song by The Police | |
from the album Zenyatta Mondatta | |
Released | October 2, 1980 |
Genre | New wave |
Length | 3:20 |
Label | A&M |
Songwriter(s) | Sting |
Producer(s) | The Police, Nigel Gray |
Audio | |
"Driven to Tears" on YouTube |
"Driven to Tears" is a song written by Sting and first released by The Police on their 1980 album Zenyatta Mondatta. Although not released as a single, the song reached #35 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. [1] The political overtones of the song represent the beginning of the political activism that would recur throughout much of Sting's and the Police's subsequent music. [2] On classic rock radio stations, the song is usually followed immediately by “ When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around”.
The theme of the song is the divide between rich and poor. [3] It was one of the first politically themed songs the Police released, and the first that Sting wrote. [4] [5] [6] Sting was inspired to write the song while on tour in the United States in 1979 after seeing the plight of starving children in Biafra on television. [4] [7] Sting has stated that the title and song came to him because he was literally driven to tears by the show. [4] The song asks questions but finds no answers. [6] One line of the song refers to the fact that people can afford the technology to watch television, but not food for the starving children. [7]
The song is in the key of A minor. [8] It incorporates a powerful eight bar guitar solo by Police guitarist Andy Summers, one of his few solos on Zenyatta Mondatta. [2] [9] Author Erica Starr has described Stewart Copeland's drum playing on the song as "jerky" and " syncopated" but that the beats "float around with great ease," noting that the song has "tremendous energy and forward momentum." [10] Rolling Stone critic David Fricke points to "Driven to Tears" as an example of The Police indulging "their love for reggae," describing the song as "brooding." [11] Allmusic critic Chris True describes the song as a "midtempo reggae workout." [2]
Author Chris Welch states that "Driven to Tears" "surges with an unstoppable anger." [7] The Washington Post music critic Robert Hull claimed that the song "has the driving force of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac." [12] Allmusic critic Chris True considers Summers' short guitar solo to be one of his best. [2] Summers himself considered "Driven to Tears" one of the better songs Sting wrote that formed "the meat" of Zenyatta Mondatta. [13]
A live performance (circa 1980) of "Driven to Tears" is the opening number of the film Urgh! A Music War.
Sting played "Driven to Tears" at the Live Aid concert in 1985. [12] He also released a live version on his solo album Bring on the Night in 1986. [7] That version included a solo by saxophone player Branford Marsalis. [7] A live version performed by the Police was released on the 1993 box set Message in a Box. [7]
The song was included in the setlist for Sting's 2014 "On Stage Together" concert tour with legendary artist Paul Simon. [14] This rendition featured a guitar and a violin solo performed by Sting's accompanying musicians.