Friday, January 08, 2010

Mad World

I walked down to a park in Seattle and sat on a bench. It was raining and grey out. I had my iPod on playing "Mad World". I watched as people walked by but could only hear the sounds of the song. I wish I had my camera. The faces, oh the faces on people went perfectly with the song. It is a sad song, a dark song, a beautiful song. I am going to buy the sheet music and learn it on the piano.

Read the words carefully. Tell me how it makes you feel.

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 tommorow
No tommorow

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
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad Word

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 what's my lesson
Look right through me
Look right through me

I have a problem. I don't know what to do about it. Sitting, pondering, listening. It helps.

3 comments:

  1. Ohhh...that's so sad and gloomy

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  2. Pretty sure that the song was written about a guy on the verge of committing suicide and reflecting on all the sadness in his life.

    Got to Christmas no. 2 in 2004 or 2005 in Britain. Personally, I find that more tragic than the song.

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  3. First of all, I remember this song, It was Tears for Fears, on their first album... about 1983. I was 16 years old. Now, I did not float that way back then. I listened to a lot of Floyd, some Zep.... some stuff like that, But I do remember hearing it and even though I found it somewhat prosaic, there was something about it, something singular and representative of where I was emotionally at the time.

    Now, at 43, having heard the song again, for the first time in many years, I still find it a bit banal. But, the lyrics no longer speak to me. In fact, I fail to see what I liked about it so many years ago. I suppose in my angst, I related to the sense of feeling alone, while every one and everything passed me by. I guess that in the interim, I have grown used to feeling that way.

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