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In 1980, The Police wrote their most timeless song. Sting wishes it hadn’t aged so well
Sting says he wishes The Police’s 1980 song ‘Driven to Tears’ had not remained so relevant, because its themes of war, famine and poverty persist. The song marked the band’s first move into political subject matter and showed that listeners were responding to its message as well as its music.
Sting traced the song’s inspiration to seeing television footage of starving children in Biafra during a US tour in 1979. Though it was not released as a single, radio airplay and word of mouth helped it reach number 35 on Billboard’s rock chart. In 2005, Sting questioned whether the world had made progress on genocide and whether people had become numb to images of suffering.
In short
- ‘Driven to Tears’ addressed war, famine and poverty.
- Sting drew inspiration from footage of starving children in Biafra.
- The song reached number 35 on Billboard’s rock chart without a single release.
Explained simply
The Police were a British rock band formed in the late 1970s, with Sting as their singer and bassist. “Driven to Tears”, released in 1980, was an early sign that the band would address political and humanitarian issues alongside personal themes.
The song was inspired by television images of children starving during the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, which ended in 1970. Biafra was a breakaway region of Nigeria, where war and a blockade contributed to severe famine.
The song’s continuing relevance reflects how war, hunger and poverty have remained global concerns. It also raises questions about how people respond to repeated images of suffering and whether attention leads to lasting change.