Everybody Wants to Rule the World

The track nearly never happened. During sessions for Songs from the Big Chair, Roland Orzabal played two chords on an acoustic guitar for producer Chris Hughes, and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" became a last-minute addition to the Tears for Fears album. It was recorded in two weeks and slotted in as the final track. Orzabal was indifferent to the song at first, partly because the chorus had originally ended with "Everybody wants to go to war", and Hughes had to convince him to record it, calculating that it could win over American radio. After each day's sessions ended at 6 p.m., the pair spent an hour reviewing recordings repeatedly, a process that helped Orzabal shape the guitar figure and change the title.

Curt Smith handled lead vocals, and his parts were pitched up because the band felt the melody dragged. The shuffle beat struck Orzabal as alien to their usual writing, jolly where "Shout" had been square and rigid, though he later said the rhythm drew on Simple Minds' "Waterfront" and Linx's "Throw Away the Key". Joe Strummer of The Clash claimed the title lifted the first line of the middle eight in "Charlie Don't Surf"; when he bumped into Orzabal at a restaurant in 1988 and demanded a fiver, Orzabal reportedly handed over five pounds on the spot.

Released in March 1985 as the album's third single, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number two in the UK. It won Best British Single at the 1986 Brit Awards.