Driven to Tears
| Driven to Tears | |
|---|---|
| The Police | |
| publication | 2nd October 1980 |
| length | 3:20 |
| Genre (s) | New wave |
| Author (s) | Sting |
| album | Zenyattà Mondatta |
Driven to Tears is a song written by Sting and released by The Police on their 1980 album Zenyattà Mondatta . Although not released as a single, the song reached number 35 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song's political undertones mark the beginning of the political activism that would later recur in Sting's music.
text
The theme of the song is the gap between rich and poor. It was one of the first political songs released by The Police. Sting was inspired to write the song while touring the United States in 1979 when he saw the plight of starving children in Biafra on television. Sting stated that the title and song came to him because he was literally moved to tears by the show. The song asks questions but doesn't find answers. One line of the song refers to the fact that people can afford the technology to watch TV, but not the food for the starving children.
composition
The song is written in A minor. It includes a guitar solo by Andy Summers , one of his few solos on Zenyatta Mondatta. Author Erica Starr described Stewart Copeland's drums as "edgy" and "syncopated". Rolling Stone critic David Fricke describes Driven to Tears as "brooding".
Allmusic critic Chris True thinks Summers' short guitar solo is one of his best. Summers himself considered Driven to Tears to be one of the best songs Sting wrote that made "the flesh" of Zenyatta Mondatta.
occupation
- Sting - bass guitar, vocals
- Andy Summers - guitar
- Stewart Copeland - drums
Individual evidence
- ↑ Driven to Tears - The Police | Song info. Retrieved November 29, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ Zenyatta Mondatta - The Police | Awards. Retrieved November 29, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ David Fricke, David Fricke: Zenyatta Mondatta. In: Rolling Stone. December 25, 1980. Retrieved November 29, 2019 (American English).