Shnootz - Reaction Video (Tears for Fears - Laid So Low [Tears Roll Down]) 

Listening, enjoying this masterpiece again. All about it's amazing!!! That voice! That solo guitar! Bass, vibes, all!!

Thanks for the shout out Matt, it's been a great ride enjoying these songs along with you especially the ones I would have probably never heard by them, this was another great one by Roland he's just such a legend!

Great song, Roland is the full package, vocalist, song writer, musician, like you say, some of his words are poetry.

This was the first song of tff on the solo after Curt left The band

Another beautifully crafted song from Roland. I've always really enjoyed this one.

This song has a really cool video ….. definitely worth a watch!

Oh, yes, this song is EPIC! The tribal percussion and tormented vocalizations that make up Tears Roll Down get fleshed out with full lyrics, and Laid So Low was released as a single and included on the album Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92). This was then the first TFF song released after the "divorce." Laid So Low explodes to life with a crashing guitar right out front. It still has that syncopated layer (kind of sounds like steel drums) now accompanied with a heavy bass. I love that oscillating sound just before the vocal begins. And here everything sort of smooths out. There is a warm synth layer that has great tonal shifts, adding so much color during the verses, and Roland's voice matches this. The music seems propelled forward by the pattern of a bass guitar note alternating with a drumbeat. Compare that to Pale Shelter or Change. Shimmery guitar accents, and then the percussion hits as Roland holds that note onto the chorus. Then we're back to hard rocking and layered guitars, and Roland singing so forcefully, too. This contrast between the more laid back verses and the power of the chorus is so cool! It's beautiful, melodic, emotional and a kick-ass rock song all in one! Lyrically, the narrator of the song feels like a fool for being deferential to someone else for far too long. Maybe the relationship in question is not what he thought it was and is no longer working, sending him "into that void of silence." I find the "mother's violence" reference interesting, sending "your soul underground." You have to now question just who is this song about? Did Roland have someone in mind, and don't everyone shout Curt at once. Both of them had problems at home, mainly with their fathers. I don't know. It could be about someone else. I tend to think "mother" is used as imagery of one you normally trust and feel safe with, and that concept could extend to all sorts of relationships and be such a huge betrayal when the "violence" starts. So, maybe Roland was thinking in a more general way. After all, you can't get more "Tears for Fears " than a song about falling into a void of despair and crying in silence. As the song concludes, it seems our narrator, knowing it took him too long to see the truth, finds himself in a mess, realizing "I should have known, that life was lust and liberty." I love these lyrics! I also like the line about being "shackled by your honesty." Has he himself not been honest? Or did he so believe in the other person that it blinded him all the more to his actual circumstances? And now that he knows he has "laid so low, for so long" what can he do about it? Maybe that gets answered with songs like Elemental or Break It Down Again. Maybe after all of his experiences with Tears for Fears, especially the drama with Curt, Laid So Low represents Roland making a break with all that, shifting gears and fully taking charge. And maybe keep some of these words in mind next time during Lord of Karma. Anyway, to me Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down) still stands as one of the best songs ever from Tears for Fears.

I never understood why this song isn't well known. It was a single, but I don't think it did much. IMO it's one of their (or his, since it's basically Roland) best. Love everything about it.

Thanks. IMHO, this is the best song of Tears For Fears.

Listening now, I definitely hear the Tomcats sound in this one.

A lost gem