Suffer the Children (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Suffer the Children” | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| Single by Tears for Fears from the album The Hurting |
|||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Wino" | ||||||||||||||||
| Released | November 1981 August 26, 1985 |
||||||||||||||||
| Format | 7", 12" | ||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 1981 | ||||||||||||||||
| Genre | New Wave | ||||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:36 | ||||||||||||||||
| Label | Mercury | ||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Roland Orzabal | ||||||||||||||||
| Producer | David Lord | ||||||||||||||||
| Tears for Fears singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
"Suffer the Children" is a song by the British band Tears for Fears. Written and sung by Roland Orzabal, it was the band's first release, recorded in Bath, England shortly after the 1981 breakup of Orzabal and Curt Smith's previous band Graduate. The song would eventually be re-recorded for inclusion on Tears for Fears' debut LP The Hurting (1983).
Contents |
[edit] Background
"Suffer The Children" was the first song we did together when we left Graduate. It was our very first experimentation with sequencers and drum machines, with a guy called David Lord, who worked with Peter Gabriel and different people down in Bath. So that was actually the first song we did as Tears For Fears.
—Curt Smith
The song's title bears resemblance to a passage in the Biblical book of Matthew (19:14), in which Jesus Christ teaches on the innocence of children. According to Orzabal:
...We were really big on this at the time - we really thought children were born innocent and good and holy... When you've got kids of your own, you realize how bloody difficult it is. But it's that kind of thing - saying look at what you're doing with your child.
—Roland Orzabal
[edit] Song versions
The original 7" version of "Suffer The Children" is distinct from the version found on The Hurting by the inclusion of an extra Curt Smith-sung lyric at the beginning of the song. The 12" single features both a remix and an instrumental version of the song.
[edit] B-side
"Wino" is a short, acoustic song that served as the b-side to "Suffer The Children". The style of the song, minus synthesizers or production of any sort, is uncharacteristic of the band's overall body of work. It remains unreleased on CD to this day.
[edit] Reissue
In 1985, following up on the massive success of the band's second LP Songs from the Big Chair, Mercury Records reissued the single complete with a new picture sleeve. It barely missed the UK Top 50 after failing to chart altogether the first time around. This release featured the same formats and track listings as the original.
[edit] Track listings
7": Mercury / IDEA1 
- "Suffer the Children" (3:36)
- "Wino" (2:17)
12": Mercury / IDEA12
- "Suffer the Children [Remix]" (4:15)
- "Suffer the Children [Instrumental]" (4:26)
- "Wino" (2:17)
[edit] Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | UK Singles Chart | #52 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
