“I was living in an apartment in central Bath. My wife, or she was my girlfriend at the time, was running three jobs so that I could sit at home in my unemployed state and just sit around all day strumming an acoustic guitar. I was a big fan of the Paul Simon song ‘Still Crazy After all These Years’. He goes, “I sit by the window and I watch the cars, I’m sure I’ll do some damage one fine day”. So, ‘Mad World’ is pretty much the same. It’s like sitting in the window of this apartment and watching everyone go about their business 9 to 5 and I’m very like not a luxury but sort of it’s quite a bizarre viewpoint to sort of watch people go around their daily routines and having to work for a living when you’re sitting in a flat unemployed. So, that’s where it came from. [There have been suggestions the song has suicidal ideations – Ed]. That’s not exactly true is it because we were very much into the writings of Dr. Arthur Janov and his book ’The Primal Scream’ and all he was saying was that some of the most dramatic dreams we have release the most tension so we can have this ridiculous dream and wake up feeling a lot better. So, “the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had” doesn’t necessarily mean I can’t wait to die.”Roland Orzabal (1329)