DESCRIPTION:
Bside 12"

"Ideas as Opiates" is a song that originally served as the B-side to the "Mad World" single. It was later re-recorded for inclusion on The Hurting. The song takes its name from a chapter title in Arthur Janov's book Prisoners of Pain and features lyrics related to the concept of primal therapy. The song is musically sparse, featuring just a piano, drum machine, and saxophone.

An alternative version of this song titled "Saxophones as Opiates" was included as a B-side on the 12" single and is mostly instrumental.
That's the chapter from Janov, and it's really a reference to people's mindsets, the way that the ego can suppress so much nasty information about oneself -- the gentle way that the mind can fool oneself into thinking everything is great.
—Roland Orzabal
It really was all about that kind of thing -- the psychological answer to religion being the opiate of the masses, whereas we thought ideas were, more than anything else.
—Curt Smith