Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels (1985)

“Head over Heels” is a song recorded by British band Tears for Fears for their second studio album Songs from the ...

“Head over Heels” is a song recorded by British band Tears for Fears for their second studio album Songs from the Big Chair (1985). The song was released in 1985 by Phonogram Records, as the album’s fourth single. It was the band’s tenth single release in the United Kingdom and eighth top 40 hit in the region, peaking at number 12. In the United States, it was the third single from the album and continued the band’s run of hits there, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. A limited edition four-leaf-clover-shaped picture disc was issued for the single’s release in the UK. The song was also an international success, reaching the top 40 in several countries.

Background

“Head over Heels” had been developed nearly two years prior as part of a segue with the song “Broken”, which was previously a stand-alone B-side to the 1983 “Pale Shelter” single. As the two songs share the same piano/synth motif, “Head over Heels” eventually came to be sandwiched in between two bookend parts of “Broken” in live performances. This placement carried over to the final track listing of the Big Chair LP, with a newer studio recording of “Broken” preceding “Head over Heels” and a live reprise of “Broken” (recorded at the concert, which was released on the In My Mind’s Eye VHS) following it.

The song features Roland Orzabal on lead vocals, with Curt Smith singing a couple of lines in the background during the second verse.

Meaning

It is basically a romantic love song and one of the most simple tracks that Tears for Fears have ever recorded. It is a romance song that goes a bit perverse at the end.

— Roland Orzabal

Music video

The music video for “Head over Heels”, filmed in June 1985, was the fourth Tears for Fears clip directed by music video producer Nigel Dick. A lighthearted video in comparison to the band’s other promos, it is centred on Roland Orzabal’s attempts to get the attention of a librarian (Joan Densmore), while a variety of characters (many played by the rest of the band), including a chimpanzee wearing a Red Sox jersey, engage in shenanigans in the library. The final scene shows Orzabal and the librarian as an older married couple. The video was filmed at the Emmanuel College Library in Toronto, Canada.