Samantha Ostenso

Honors Writers Workshop

Mrs.Skemp-Cook

October 23, 2013

Song Analysis

“I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I’m dying are the best i ever had”; these haunting lyrics are from the song Mad World. Originally written and performed by the group Tears For Fears in 1982, but then covered by Gary Jules in

2001 for the movie Donnie Darko. Tears For Fears music for the original had a synthetic sound with a faster tempo, like any pop song from that time period. Gary Jules cover was slower and more ballad like, thus making the lyrics more meaningful and his version more popular. Even though the music is different between the two different versions of the song, the message is still the same. The message is that the world is mad, this is portrayed through the lyrics using imagery, diction, syntax, and also the authors personal experiences.

Mad World addresses a slew of topics in a variety of ways to show how and why the world is mad. One literary device the author of the song uses is imagery. An example of the imagery is “ Tears filling up their glasses, no expression, no expression”

This illustrates how conflicted the author believes that society is. They are crying so much that their tears are filling up their glasses, yet at the same time they are not showing any emotion. This makes it seem like society at its core is sad, but emotionless, two very contradicting elements. Another example of imagery “When people run in circles, its a very, very mad world.” When the author says running in circles he doesn’t mean it literally more metaphorically. He uses the phrase to mean that society isn’t going anywhere, or another interpretation could be that their is no meaning to life. Thats why he calls it a mad world because in his eyes the world isn’t going anywhere. Another literary tool the author uses to portray his views of the world is diction. An example of his diction choice “going nowhere”, these words he chose are a metaphor, not literal representation. His word choice here represents how he believes that society isn’t progressing, they are stagnant. Also the use of syntax adds to the overall haunting aspect of the song. There is a call and response formation in the Mad

World. “Hide my head I want to drown in sorrow, no tomorrow, no tomorrow” this adds a sadness to the song, that gives it more depth. It also adds to the madness of the world that the author is trying to portray.

A big contributing factor to the song is the writer’s background. The song was written by Roland Orzabal. He had a very unorthodox background, his parents were hippies and musicians. So during his childhood he was very free, and he grew up around a very creative group of people. So when he went to school he found it very constraining and felt like the teachers and students didn’t care about him because it was so different than he was used to. Thats why he uses the line “See right through me” because he didn’t feel like the teachers care about him. Another factor about his earlier life that contributed to the song was his growing up in the town of bath. When he was a teenager growing up in Bath, he would people watch, and this was what he based the first stanza of his song on. How the crowd seemed to blend together, and they were all going to the same place everyday thus he derived the lines “All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces.” Having this knowledge of the author of the lyrics helps the reader get a better understanding of the song.

The reason Gary Jules Version of Mad World is more popular is because his music better fits the words and the meaning of the song. Tears For Fears wrote the song so they would gain recognition and fame, they accomplished that by reaching the

U.K’s top charts in 1982. Gary Jules took their message and made it more meaningful by their lyrics make more of an impact with his ballad styled song. Tears For Fears portrayed their message of the world being mad in their song with their use of imagery, diction, syntax, and their background.