Tears For Fears: Mad World Meaning

Song Released: 1982

Covered By: Gary Jules (2003), Jasmine Thompson (2013), Taylor John Williams (2014)

Mad World Lyrics

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...

1. anonymous

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   Mar 5th 2009 !⃝

   "all around me are familiar faces worn out places worn out faces"
   
   There is no novelty in his world, he has seen everything before, and the other people have done everything ... what wore them out? Jobs? Life?
   
   "bright and early for the daily races going no where going no where"
   
   The other people, and possibly himself too, are ready for their jobs or whatever they do. Doing a job is compared to running in a race. But in a real race, the runners go somewhere, and someone wins.
   
   "their tears are filling up their glasses no expression no expression"
   
   Eyeglasses? Drinking glasses? They cry, but feel (and express) nothing. Why are they crying?
   
   "hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow"
   
   Embarrassment? Despair? Drown his sorrow by drinking his own tears from a glass? Drown his sorrow with alcohol? Drown himself, his body, and his sorrow with it?
   
   "no tomorrow no tomorrow"
   
   He thinks there will be no tomorrow? Or he just doesn't want to experiwnce it? Or it will be just like today, therefore not really "tomorrow"?
   
   "and I find I kind of funny I find it kind of sad that the dreams in which i’m dying are the best [dreams] i’ve ever had"
   
   Death, absence of life, is better than this life? Or, the process of dying is at least entertaining, novel, different from this monotonous life? What were his other dreams like?
   
   "I find it hard to tell you I find it hard to take"
   
   This boring, meaningless life is difficult to tolerate and difficult to describe
   
   "when people run in circles its a very very mad world mad world"
   
   To run in a circle is to expend effort and achieve nothing, while maybe thinking you're achieving something. When everyone does that, everyone (the world) is insane.
   
   "children waiting for the day they feel good happy birthday happy birthday"
   
   The other 364 days of the year, the children don't feel good. What do they feel? Anything? They are just waiting. And when that birthday arrives, are they really happy after all?
   
   "and I feel the way that every child should sit and listen sit and listen"
   
   When sitting and listening, children feel nothing, as they "should" -- i.e. as the adults want them to feel -- the same adults who control this mad world.
   
   "went to school and I was very nervous no one knew me no one knew me"
   
   We've all been there.
   
   "hello teacher tell me what’s my lesson look right through me look right through me"
   
   He is eager to learn, but the teacher doean't hold up his/her end of the relationship. To the teacher, it is the same as if he doesn't exist.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
2. anonymous

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   Oct 9th 2008 !⃝

   This song is about how the perspective of an unborn child would have seen abortion}

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. quilkinous

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   Oct 4th 2008 !⃝

   I first heard this song in the movie "Donnie Darko". I decided to look up "Mad World" separately from the movie. I might be saying the same things as others did, but I just want to put the whole picture together.
   
   The song starts off noting the bland repetitiveness of the world. People's lifestyles can be meaningless and empty, although they may not realize it unless they were stopped and forced to think about it. The singer, realizing this, doesn't want another tomorrow, doesn't want another meaningless pattern.
   It's an odd mix of feelings (funny and sad) that we continue with the same routine despite a void of emotion it causes us. I don't think this song is suicidal although the mention of death might make it seem that way. A different interpretation of the line "The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had" is that the dream was just as good or better than living an entire lifetime, so dying at the end was satisfying because of a good "life's" accomplishment. This interpretation leads to the message that thinking you lived a good life without actually living it might be satisfying enough to live through the emptiness of your real life.
   It would be hard to accept this and almost cruel to impose it on others against their will. Sometimes the truth is strange and hard to swallow, but lying to yourself and saying nothing is wrong can be just as damaging, if not more. No matter what someone decides about it, it hurts.
   We are pounded into this pattern at an early age. Children crave to fit in with the rest of the pre-molded world. A birthday is just a way of recording how long you lived, but it's always celebrated, making the birthday person feel accomplished without truly accomplishing anything. To fit in the world, this is the process the child must go through. Sit and listen, go to school, learn.
   The singer briefly describes his first day of school, being nervous and new in the class. He wants to know what he has to learn, but the teacher looks through him, he's unimportant. There might not be anything important to learn about our existence. Or he is asking the teacher to look through him to help him understand everything. I can't decide between the two since they might both be true.
   
   Question me.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. anonymous

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   May 2nd 2008 !⃝

   Hi
   
   When you know about Asperger Syndrome you understand what this song means for this kind of people. Asperger syndrome is a inefficiency to socialize, so people with the syndrome don't understand society rules so they have to learn them. One of the main characteristics of this kind of people is that they don't have expressions and don't understand expressions of others. They are people vulnerable to depression because all their life they feel alone, specially when along their life they didn't know about their syndrome. This is the kind of people that we think is weird and use to be alone all the time. The Asperger syndrome has a his origin in the autism syndrome, that's why sometimes people with Asperger syndrome stays alone and creates another world.
5. anonymous

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   Mar 10th 2008 !⃝

   Hello,
   I found this page when I was searching in google for an interpretation for this song.
   
   after reading the people's analysis, I understood some things.
   
   1- this song is about a person who is tired from his daily routine (every day is like the one before), no change, no progress "going nowhere".
   
   2- this feeling (becoming bored) is noticed by the people around him (friend, family ...) and they are sorry for him.
   but this has no effect on him (he now doesn't care that others are sorry for him) "no expression"
   
   3- he also wishes not to see tomorrow (so as not to be in this boring routine)
   
   4- he even thinks that dying is the best thing for him (to stop the routine). and his dreams of dying are best thing he ever had.
   
   5- then he remembers his childhood. and how when he was young he wanted years to pass birthday after another to grow up and achieve what he wants. He was eager to learn in school . So that the years he spent studying can help him to achieve what he wants when he grows up. but he didn't have friends in school, he didn't focus on personal relationships all he wanted is studying to continue his life and grow up.
   
   6- finally, my advice to you is to enlarge your world . don't focus on daily things only . plan for your life, and have a mission in this world . and know the purpose behind your creation :
   a- read in your religion and try to know the purpose behind your creation (if you already do not know).
   b- if you are not convinced by your answer to that question, --> try reading in ISLAM and I am sure that you will find the answer to convince you.
   
   Sorry if anyone don't like my final note (#6) ; but because this song is about a man that lost everything (his faith, mind , willingness to live) and I don't want you to be like him on any day.
   
   Thanks
6. zalmyman

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   Jan 26th 2008 !⃝

   I think this song is essentially about the loss of innocence and the apathy it brings.
   It is a song about the apathy and depression that many adolescents feel as they grow out of their childhood years and start realizing the kind of ugly place the world is. Without good guidance from parents and/or teachers, they don't know how to deal with it and it leads to depression and even thoughts of suicide ("the dreams in which I'm dying..").
   The first time I heard the song was on Donnie Darko, and it fits so perfectly with that movie. Although I've since grown out of it for the most part, I can really relate to this song 'cause it really reflects the morbid thoughts I had as a teenager.
   If you pay attention to the lyrics you will see this theme throught the song.. "Children waiting for the day they feel good.." (thinking about his childhood and the naive bliss he was in).. "Teacher whats my lesson.." (begging an adult to tell him there's hope and something to look forward to in life)etc.
   Absolutely brilliant song, but really kinda depressing too.
7. toma4114

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   Jan 5th 2008 !⃝

   I don't have anything to add I just think these are some really great analysises. a lot of thought has been put into these and it looks like there arent any retarded people who just like to argue on this one
   
   good song too
8. anonymous

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   Oct 30th 2007 !⃝

   "please tell me who I am".. exactly! I see this as about someone who is going through personal, spiritual crisis. "Who am I?" "What is this world about?" "What is the meaning of life?" The last line explains it all (and is missing from the quote on this website)... "Enlarge your world".. basically suggesting to look beyond the superficial toward what is real, practical, in the now..
9. anonymous

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   Oct 25th 2007 !⃝

   A couple things I would like to add. "children waiting for the day they feel good happy birthday..."
   Why are they waiting to feel good. Perhaps its the pressure of life gone awry. They are drawn to the 'escape' because they can't.
   
   and I feel the way that every child should sit and listen...
   Who should they listen to? themselves --wanting to escape is a big indicator that there is a major problem with their own identity being at risk of being lost.
   
   hello teacher tell me what's my lesson look right through me..."
   Its like saying 'Please, can you tell me who I am'
10. anonymous

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    Oct 22nd 2007 !⃝

    I honestly believe it is about police doing their day to day job!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Aug 1st 2007 !⃝

    I think it's about a man tired of his life and he explains how life is meaning less and the individual doesn't matter. The worn out faces can be a metaphor for people always smiling and never showing the true feelings and then they're faces gets worn out. And that is why it becomes a mad world.
12. anonymous

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    Mar 21st 2007 !⃝

    I believe the song is about how everyday, over and over, people go about their days doing the same thing even though they are worn out and sad and wishful for something new. People go to the same boring job, boring classes, boring places everyday, not just because they have to, but maybe because its all they know. And they are "familiar faces" because their "worn out faces" all have a similarity. And maybe they are going somewhere, but really they are not. And the "dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had" because the everyday same nothingness is so boring and sad that he finds when he dies in his dreams more appealing, like he's escaping from the sad blahness. "Children waiting for the day they feel good" because we all have these small little days which we look forward to, and how sad it really is. "Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson Look right through me" how the teachers and other people don't really care about you, they are just there to teach. There is no emotinal connection.
13. anonymous

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    Mar 21st 2007 !⃝

    I believe the song is about how everyday, over and over, people go about their days doing the same thing even though they are worn out and sad and wishful for something new. People go to the same boring job, boring classes, boring places everyday, not just because they have to, but maybe because its all they know. And they are "familiar faces" because their "worn out faces" all have a similarity. And maybe they are going somewhere, but really they are not. And the "dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had" because the everyday same nothingness is so boring and sad that he finds when he dies in his dreams more appealing, like he's escaping from the sad blahness. "Children waiting for the day they feel good" because we all have these small little days which we look forward to, and how sad it really is. "Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson Look right through me" how the teachers and other people don't really care about you, they are just there to teach. There is no emotinal connection.
14. anonymous

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    Jan 28th 2007 !⃝

    I thought of it as the views of a nihilistic person. He sees how bad the world has gotten, people seemingly doing things for nothing. He sees this and wishes to escape, as shown in the line "the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had." if you listen to the words, all the things he's describing kinda go along with what I've said. Id explain further, but its a lot to type. This sorta fits in with the first interpretation, how the narrator has been affected by this "mad world"
15. anonymous

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    Jan 19th 2007 !⃝

    Thats so not even right. This song is about how the world is pissed off because no one has found atlantis yet. Its just an angry, hollow world. Duh.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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