‘Mad World’ is a 1982 song by British band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith, it was the band's third single release and first chart hit, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart in November 1982. Both ‘Mad World’ and its B-side, ‘Ideas as Opiates’, appeared on the band's debut LP The Hurting (1983). This single was also the band's first international success, reaching the Top 40 in several countries in 1982–83. The song has since been covered by various artists, including a 2001 version recorded by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules for the soundtrack of the film Donnie Darko; a 2003 single release of the song reached number one in the UK for three consecutive weeks and won Orzabal his second Ivor Novello Award.
‘Mad World’ was originally written on acoustic guitar when Orzabal was 19 after being inspired to write a new wave song in the vein of Duran Duran's ‘Girls on Film’. After a few false starts with Orzabal on vocals, he suggested Smith sing it and "suddenly it sounded fabulous". ‘Mad World’ was intended to be the B-side for the band's second single ‘Pale Shelter (You Don't Give Me Love)’, but their record company stated that ‘Mad World’ could be a single in its own right. The band then opted to re-record ‘Mad World’ with producers Ross Cullum and Chris Hughes, the latter a former drummer with Adam and the Ants.
When asked about the song’s origins, Roland Orzabal said, “That came when I lived above a pizza restaurant in Bath and I could look out onto the centre of the city. Not that Bath is very mad – I should have called it "Bourgeois World"!” Curt Smith added, “‘Mad World’ was the first single off the finished album. The intention was to gain attention from it and we'd hopefully build up a little following. We had no idea that it would become a hit. Nor did the record company.”
The line, "The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had" suggests thoughts of suicide, but according to Roland Orzabal, who wrote the lyrics, it relates to the psychologist Arthur Janov's idea that our most dramatic dreams release the most tension. So, the guy in the song isn't necessarily looking to die - he wakes up from morbid, lucid dreams feeling better. In a 2013 interview with The Guardian, Orzabal said of the timeless nature of the song: "'Mad World' hasn't dated because it's expressive of a period I call the teenage menopause, where your hormones are going crazy as you're leaving childhood. Your fingers are on the cliff and you're about to drop off, but somehow you cling on."
Labels – Phonogram, Mercury
Songwriter – Roland Orzabal
Producers – Chris Hughes, Ross Cullum
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]All around me are familiar faces
Worn-out places, worn-out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
[Chorus]
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world
Mad world
Mad world
Mad world
[Verse 2]
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello, teacher, tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
[Chorus]
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles, it's a very very
Mad world
Mad world
Mad world
Mad world
[Interlude]
[Chorus]
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world
Mad world
Halargian world
Mad world