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Mad World

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Submitted By bonkos9075
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Sarah Bonkowski
Brian Heaney
ENG 1112
August 26, 2014

Mad World

The song Mad World by Gary Jules is about existence. He realizes that there is no point in existence and that life is just very trivial. Gary Jules sees the world as worn out, dry, and wonders if its really worth it. Children are completely oblivious to the outside world. During the time when a child feels so excited about an event that an adult finds almost insignificant, they display true ignorance and obliviousness. The singer yearns to be a child and have such mentalities, but as he cannot, he sees no reason to exist.
Lyrically the song is pretty loose. It throws together a lot of different images to paint a picture without saying anything specific about the world. He starts the song off with “All around me are familiar faces, Worn out places, worn out faces. Bright and early for their daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere. Their tears are filling up their glasses. No expression, no expression. Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow, no tomorrow, no tomorrow” (line 1-8). The familiar faces, worn out places, and worn out faces indicate that he has seen all their is to see, and that to him, all faces look the same, worn out and tired of life. If one considers the commute from home to work, at the end of the day its just the same cycle over again the next day. He continues to wonder where life is really going. When he sings bright and early for their daily races, going nowhere, he means the daily races of our lives. How busy and how hectic they can be. We all wake up bright and early as if there was a purpose, but in the end we don't go anywhere. He believes we have no purpose. The tears filling up the glass indicates the meaninglessness and bitterness they must feel, if they are to drink their own tears. To swallow your own tears without expression is extreme. Meaning there is no feeling left toward anything or anyone and can just swallow the emotions. Sadness indicates that there is a meaning in life, and something to be sad about, but no expression and no tomorrow, indicates that he is so worn down as to not even feel sad or angry. He would rather drown in his sorrow. He goes on to sing “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” (line 9-12). The funniness he talks about is a very dark emotion. A sad type of funny. This is the way he feels about life, because he dreams of dying. His dreams about dying are not necessarily suicidal, but the point of existing all together. “I find it hard to tell you 'cos I find it hard to take. When people run in circles, It's a very, very mad world” (lines 13-16). The reason why he finds it hard to tell us is because he is just about to reveal the moral of the song; There is no meaning in life. He finds it hard to realize that people are still willing to live when he sings about people running in circles. He sees this world as crazy, meaningless and angry. As Gary continues to sing “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 whats my lesson, look right through me, look right through me” (lines 17-24). This tells us that the child stage is the most innocent, their desires are innocent and they just want to feel good like the day of their birthday. Gary wants us to consider why that as humans we need to celebrate the birth of our lives. He views this in the song referring to “Happy Birthday”, and “sit and listen”. He repeats them twice to sound more of a routine and meaningless. Children only see what they know, and he wishes he could share their ignorance. They see their birthday as an event to look forward to, an event that will get better and better, when in reality, the effects just get more dull like it is simply just another day. When he talks about going to school, this is where he feels nervous, isolated and alone. School is suppose to be a social place to meet friends, where people interact with eachother and not just a place for learning. The teacher represents authority and knowledge. As the teacher looks right through him this causes Gary feels as if he is insignificant.
All in all, this song represents a dark, mad world with no purpose. The theme about this song is that we live in a life that is insane, because people pretend to live. We run in circles repeating everything we do and it just gets more dull. What is is important about this song is that it is not a grown man who is dealing with this life, but a young child. A child who feels he has seen all there is to see and realized very early in life that life is meaningless. This song shows that he has given up, and there is nothing left for him. He would rather be an oblivious, happy child then to be grown and live the meaningless life that he portrays.

Works Cited

http://www.azlyrics.com. Gary Jules, Mad World Lyrics.
Web 2000-2014 http://entropic-insanity.deviantart.com. Analysis of “Mad World”, Entropic Insanity
Web. April 28, 2008.

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