Synopsis

Tears for Fears move through a surreal Los Angeles landscape where ordinary scenes slip into dream logic. A swimmer shares a pool with an alligator, a police officer struggles with traffic, and a giant iron-shaped mark appears on an airport runway. Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal wander through these disconnected episodes before becoming engulfed by a storm of paper airplanes. The playful imagery turns everyday frustration into a strange chain of cause and effect, ending with a broken guitar and the alligator returning to the pool.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Los Angeles in early 1983, including a sequence shot at Los Angeles International Airport. The runway image resembles the imprint of an enormous iron, complete with steam rising from the surface.

• Its deliberately odd imagery includes a traffic officer, a swimming-pool alligator, a woman in a red bathing suit, and hundreds of paper airplanes. One airplane hits Roland Orzabal directly in the eye.

• "Pale Shelter" was one of two demo songs, along with "Suffer the Children," that helped Tears for Fears secure their first record deal with Phonogram in 1981.

• Roland Orzabal described the song as a love song concerned more with parents than romantic partners. The title was inspired by Henry Moore's 1941 artwork "Pale Shelter Scene."

• The 1983 reissue became the band's third UK Top 5 single from *The Hurting*, reaching No. 5. The video was later included on *The Videosingles* and *Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92)*.

• In 2016, "Pale Shelter" was prominently sampled in "Secrets" by Canadian singer the Weeknd.