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SUBJECT: Mad World: Tears For Fears...POSTED: 07/09/03 BY: SAM


This dissection actually started as an email conversation between my girlfriend and myself. My take on the song is first, with hers straight below it.

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All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
**the mind numbing grind of our daily lifes, living to work, instead of working to live. by teh way, races are run on a circular track, no beginning and end, round and round

And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
**they're depressed, angry, they feel impotent, but they cant let it out, they dont know how. and even if they could they're afraid that a sign of non conformity, that they're not happy with their lot in life will mark them out as a trouble maker and they'll be shunned and rejected and lose what little they've got

Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tommorow, no tommorow
**he cant cope thinkin that he's got to do it all again day after day. he'd drinking to forget, to go somewhere else, just fro a while

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
**dying's a large change, its in no way ordinery. its pretty much the biggest thing that can happen to you. and for that moment he's special, something is actually HAPPENING to him and him alone.

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
**he's seen just how ridiculas teh world is, but he just cant tell anyone cos if he does, if he tries to verbalise how he feels, to make it solid in his head he feels he'll go mad, much like teh world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
**i think here he's not just talkin about children, but how adults are just workin their lifes away waiting for that bit of praise, that reward, that meagre raise that makes it all temporarily worth will, teh carrot on teh stick. "hey, u've got a bonus, happy birthday"

Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
**i dont think "the way every child should" feel means happy cos its the birthday, i think he's sayin every child should sit down, shut up and do as they're told. and as adults were still being told not think for ourselves, but to do as we're told

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
**i think the school here is actually adult life, in which we have no real preperation, we're just thrown in at the deep end and expected to do our best.

Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
**the problem with society these days is that we're not expected to ask for help, just to know what to do. and if someone does ask for help they're pityed and then ignored. gotta look out for number one and no one else havent ya

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> All around me are familiar faces
> Worn out places, worn out faces
> Bright and early for their daily races
> Going nowhere, going nowhere
~ For me, this part is about being stuck in the rut of daily, monotonous life. The faces are those seen on the way into or at work, they're worn out because they are tired of their lives the same as the singer is. The daily race is the journey into work, and they're going nowhere because they have dead-end jobs~

> And their tears are filling up their glasses
> No expression, no expression
> Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
> No tommorow, no tommorow
~ The glasses could be those worn on the face or drinking glasses, tears could fill either of them. No expression could be that their work has so overtaken their lives they don't know how to do anything else - they have forgotten the value of the so-called work life balance - their emotions have been stunted and they can't express themselves anymore. Drowning his sorrow could be drinking to forget the daily toil. No tomorrow could mean he can't face another day of this. ~

> 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
~ Escaping from all this by dying feels good in his dreams but he finds it funny and sad because he can't understand it. He probably wakes up regretting it wassn't for real.~

> 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
~ He can't comprehend this 'sign' that death may be his only way out of his situation. The people running in circles are those who do the same thing, day after day after day...~

> Children waiting for the day they feel good
> Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
~ Birthdays have not half as much meaning for adults as they do for children~

> Made to feel the way that every child should
~ Children should be able to enjoy their innocence and lack of responsibilty, once its gone then its gone for good~

> Sit and listen, sit and listen
~A reference to going to school (?)~

> 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
~ Difficult to explain this bit. He's looked through as an indication of how he will just become one of those going for their daily races, just another insignificant & expendable face in the crowd, he was never remarkable enough to be anything else.
And everyone is nervous on their first day at school. Instead of looking to their parents the children to some extent look to the teachers to guide them into the big wide world. Maybe he was never given any encouragement to push himself and that is partly why he has ended up where he is~


v1.0 14/03/03