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Ben Walker

Professor Freeland

English Composition 2

2/10/2022

Mad World Video Comparison

When thinking about songs to listen to while in a sad mood, many people turn to the song

“Mad World”. Most people know the version sung by Gary Jules, an American singer, but what

most people don’t know is that a song with the same lyrics and the same name came out in 1983

and made it to the #1 on the charts in England. This version of the song was written and sung by

Tears for Fears. While both songs exhibit the same depressing lyrics and use emotion to appeal

to listeners, the much more pop and upbeat version by Tears for Fears has a much different

audience than the slowed down more depressing version sung by Gary Jules.

The original version of the song by Tears for Fears, was originally written by one of the

members of the group after hearing the song “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran. It was at first

written on an acoustic guitar but later switched to a synthesizer when the group got the resources

to do so. The group had also switched vocalists for the song after realizing that one could sing

the song much better than the other. The song is about a depressed person who feels like they are

out of place in the world and cannot find their sole purpose. In the video, you can see a person

looking out a window seeming as if they are trapped in their thoughts and trying to escape. It

also appears that the main character in the song is stressed and is having a tough time in life. Due

to these factors, the claim of the video is that everyone goes through hard times and it is ok to

express your emotions. Even with the tough lyrics, the upbeat tone and the pop style oppose the
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tough lyrics and give a new purpose to the song. The actual purpose of the song was to create a

good-sounding song with the ability to shoot up charts and sell copies.

When it comes to “Mad World” by Gary Jules the purpose of this song and background is

completely different. Jules was contacted by Michael Andrews, the leader of the soundtrack for

the movie Donnie Darko. The song appears in a dark part of the movie in which the song is used

to portray the sadness of one of the main characters. Differing from the original, this song is

much slower than the first one and much more depressing than the first one due to the slow tone

and the slow piano playing in the background. The video of this version is very different and

very similar to the original. Both portray someone going through a tough time in life but this

video portrays this by having people move around into different shapes and tell a story by doing

it. The claim of this video is that even people who go through normal life looking ok, but they

may not be ok. The purpose of this song is not to become a pop hit, even though it did, but to tell

a sad story of depression through music.

To help bring attention to the song and the video of the song, Tears for Fears used the

rhetorical appeal, pathos. Using sad and depressing lyrics helped bring people's emotions into the

listening of the song and by portraying someone who appears to be depressed in the video,

people get a visual of the truly mad lyrics discussed in the song. By using these lyrics, the group

appeals to people's emotions. This song appeals to two different audiences. This song appeals to

a younger audience around the ages of 12-30 and also appeals to an audience of people who are

going through a rough time. Due to the upbeat tone and style of the song, many pop listeners

may find this song interesting and fun to listen to. But due to the sad lyrics, people going through

a tough time may also enjoy this song because it gives something to relate to.
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Like the original, the Mad World cover by Gary Jules also uses rhetorical appeal, pathos

to appeal to people's emotions in the song. As both songs have the same lyrics both use

depressing and sad lyrics and they both appeal to the emotions of many listeners. But, they may

feel sad due to the slow, sad tone of the song which is much different than the tone of the

original. The piano in the background offers a much different audience to this version of the song

than the first version of the song. This version appeals to a much older audience, around 40-80

years old, as many younger people don’t enjoy a slow style of music. But, like the original, this

song also has an audience of people going through a rough time. Due to the same depressing

lyrics; and the slow, sad tone; this song is great for someone going through a rough time.

Overall both versions of the song “Mad World” do a great job of portraying a message to

a certain audience. While one has an upbeat tone and the other is played much more slowly to

the tone of a piano, both help get the same lyrics to multiple different audiences whether they are

12-30 or 40-80. Both Tears for Fears and Gary Jules deserve credit for the work they both put

out and both received recognition for their work with their performances on charts across

Europe.
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Works Cited

orijimi. “Mad World - Gary Jules.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Jan. 2006,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4&t=127s.

Smf, et al. “‘Mad World’ by Gary Jules.” Song Meanings and Facts, 28 Aug. 2020,

https://www.songmeaningsandfacts.com/mad-world-by-gary-jules/.

Songfacts. “Mad World by Tears for Fears - Songfacts.” Song Meanings at Songfacts,

2022, https://www.songfacts.com/facts/tears-for-fears/mad-world.

TearsForFearsVEVO, director. YouTube, YouTube, 9 Aug. 2013,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZvPSpLxCg. Accessed 11 Feb. 2022.

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