THE POLICE - DRIVEN TO TEARS

DRIVEN TO TEARS

THE POLICE

SONGWRITER: STING

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: ZENYATTA MONDATTA

LABEL: A & M RECORDS

GENRE: NEW WAVE

YEAR: 1980

 

             The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae and jazz.

         Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour, reached No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart. Their second album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979), became the first of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia; its lead single, "Message in a Bottle", became their first UK number one. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Ghost in the Machine (1981), led to further critical and commercial success with two songs - "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" - becoming UK number-one singles.

             Their final studio album, Synchronicity (1983), was No. 1 in both the UK and the US, selling over 8 million copies in the US alone. Its lead single, "Every Breath You Take", became their fifth UK number one, and first in the US. During this time, the band were considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the US; in 1983 Rolling Stone labelled them "the first British New Wave act to break through in America on a grand scale, and possibly the biggest band in the world." The Police disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour that ended in August 2008. They were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, due to their reunion tour.

          The Police have sold over 75 million records, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The band won a number of music awards, including six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards—winning Best British Group once, and an MTV Video Music Award. In 2003, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four of their five studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The band were included among both Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".

            "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. 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.

How can you say that your not responsible? What does it have to do with me?

What is my reaction, what should it be?

Confronted by this latest atrocity

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat

My comfortable existance is reduced to a shallow meaningless party

Seems that when some innocent die

All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine

Too many cameras and not enough food

'Cause this is what we've seen

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Protest is futile, nothing seems to get through

What's to become of our world, who knows what to do

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Driven to tears

Driven to tears.