[4][5][6] Sting was inspired to write the song while on tour in the United States in 1979 after seeing the plight of starving children in Biafra on television.
[6] One line of the song refers to the fact that people can afford the technology to watch television, but not food for the starving children.
"[10] Rolling Stone critic David Fricke points to "Driven to Tears" as an example of The Police indulging "their love for reggae," describing the song as "brooding.
"[7] The Washington Post music critic Robert Hull claimed that the song "has the driving force of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
[2] Summers himself considered "Driven to Tears" one of the better songs Sting wrote that formed "the meat" of Zenyatta Mondatta.