25/1022, 20:28 Why “Everybody Wants Ta Rula The World’, a cold-war anthem, endures | The Economist = Menu Q My Economist v There's no turing back Why “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, a cold- war anthem, endures ‘As well as an unusual, catchy melody, the song's lyrics speak to the anxieties of every age eae May 30th 2019 Save < Share Give By KYW, | ATLANTA ITWASa febrile year. In 1985 Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president for a second term, Margaret Thatcher entered the sixth year of her premiership and Mikhail Gorbachev took over as general secretary of the Communist Party, pledging to “do everything for our Soviet motherland to become still more rich and powerful”, There were nuclear tests and riots. Mobile-phone networks were set up, the first Nintendo home video-game consoles were launched and “Rocky IV" dominated the American box office. In the midst of all this, Tears For Fears released “Everybody Wants To Rule The World’, a jarringly cheery song about freedom, pleasure and “a lack of vision’. The tune bore some hallmarks of its era, particularly in its embrace of synth melodies and allusions to geopolitical struggles. It briefly reached the top spot on the Billboard charts that summer—and the composition’s power continues to be felt. Roland Orzabal, the band’s singer, guitarist and chief songwriter, says that he had specific crises in mind when he wrote the lyrics to his New Wave hit, He initially thought the song's title would be “Everybody Wants To Go To War" in order to make a statement about the posturing between America and the USSR. “You still had a threat of nuclear war then.” he recalls of those cold-war tensions. “It was Russia versus hitps:lwwn-economistcomiprospero/2019/05/30\hy-everybody-wanls-c-rule-he-work-e-cold-waranthem-andures aAmerica but ina very different way than the [release of] emails and underhanded methods now.” Mr Orzabal believed the song to be more cynical than hopeful, and less complex than the material he had composed for “The Hurting’, the band’s debut album that was released in 1983. He almost gave up on it, he says, but persevered at his wife's insistence. The concept expanded, making references to clashing superpowers in the refrain but also what Mr Orzabal calls “personal dictators, like the man at work who may be dictating everything you do” Yet the words are general enough to speak to the anxieties of every age, and a perennial sense that “there's no turning back’, That may help to explain why the song has been covered so many times. In recent years artists including Giorgio Moroder, Nas, Ted Yoder, Diane Birch, Trevor Horn and Robbie Williams have released versions of their own. In 2013 Lorde recorded a slow, dirge-like cover for the soundtrack of "The Hunger Games’, a dystopian film franchise. (Mr Orzabal says he listened to Lorde’s recording and thought: “oh my God, so that's what I was talking about. It is dark.") This year Weezer recorded a cover for their latest, self-titled, album, and performed it live at the Coachella Music Festival with Mr Orzabal and Curt ‘Smith, Tears For Fears's bassist and co-founder, who sings lead vocals on the song. Critics have grappled with the meaning and effect of these tributes, but the hit's euphoric qualities are hard to capture in words. On Spotify, Tears For Fears's original recording remains the most popular version, recently surpassing 250m plays. Ms Bitch, who was a toddler when the song was released in 1985 but discovered it anew as a teenager, says that the emotional effect of the music is instantaneous: “When you hear the opening synth and the driving bass line, it immediately puts you in the feeling and transcends genres and time.” Gil Weinberg, a professor of musical technology at Georgia Tech, has studied the song's structure. He identifies the track's “tension-building chord progression and uncommon melody” as key to its appeal, but as well as that, he thinks that it has an indefinable quality that challenges other artists to replicate it In many ways “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” resonates as loudly today as it did when it was first released. “One headline, why believe it?” could refer to fake news. Listeners are reminded that “nothing ever lasts forever” as Britain's ties with the European Union fray (indeed, those following the Brexit negotiations likely “can’t stand this indecision” either). The line about turning “your back on mother nature” is pertinent as awareness of the climate crisis spreads. A new rivalry, between America and China, is taking hold. The juxtaposition of the foreboding verses and the sparkling instrumentation creates something rare and gripping, and it is hard to tire of the tenor vocals, high-life guitar riffs and keyboard flourishes. As the song's enduring popularity attests, Tears For Fears certainly did not suffer from a lack of vision. hitps:lwwn-economistcomiprospero/2019/05/30\hy-everybody-wanls-c-rule-he-work-e-cold-waranthem-andures 28