“Mad World” by Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules

Michael Andrews and Gary Jules stripped Tears for Fears' "Mad World" down to the bone in 2001 for the soundtrack of Donnie Darko, and it sounds like a winter afternoon with the heating off. Andrews produced and recorded it, Jules sang lead and mixed it, and Tori Haberman and Sam Shelton added backing vocals; it also turns up on the album Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets. Where the original was a new wave single, this one is hushed and hollowed out, a sad drift of voices and Jules sounding almost too tired to go on.

Roland Orzabal wrote the song, and when this version came out as a single in 2003 it sat at number one in the UK for three weeks running, winning Orzabal his second Ivor Novello Award in the process.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.