Mad World by Tears for Fears is one of those interesting songs for multiple reasons. For one, a cover of the song (by Gary Jules) arguably became more famous than the original song itself. This isn't even credited to the notoriety of Gary Jules, as more people have probably heard of Tears for Fears. This leads to the second interesting aspect, the cover is just so different from the original that it nearly turns it into a completely new song. By now it is evident that listeners find Jules's version to be more favorable. But why?
The lyrics of the song paint a bleak picture of dark realizations around the world of the author. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had is anything but cheery. However as a 21st Century listener, the music of the original version seems to clash fiercely with the words. Upbeat, New Wave, and young British energy are the words some could use to describe the music, and this couldn't be further from the essence of the lyrics.
However in Gary Jule's version, the first thing we are presented with is the simple, sad, descending piano melody that carries the song. Musically the song is a bleak piano ballad. In essence, the music matches the words. Listeners seem to favor this. In my opinion, songs are always always more honest in their original version. They wrote the song, and I believe the music they wrote perfectly matched what they were trying to capture. It clashes because it's supposed to clash. The music is the world around them. Upbeat, cheerful, unaware. The singer is speaking from the heart masked behind music made to match what was the norm of that time. Some could say it falls along the line of satire. To me, this captures the feeling of the words better than Gary Jules's version. I love Jules's version, but I can't shake the feeling that Tears for Fears still did it better, because they made it. From: https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/42h8ab/on_the_two_mad_worlds/
