and the Rye, the lyrics of Mad World, and articles, How we Made Mad World, Out of the Realm of Imagination and Increased Levels of Anxiety and Depression as Teenage Experience Changes Over Time, significant evidence reveals the analogousness between Holden and Roland’s song.
To begin with, 19 year old Roland Orzabal composed Mad World due to his persistent psychological disturbances from his past. The birthplace of the song was in Dole, England during the year of 1982. “I’m going to have a crack at something like that” (Simpson 1). According to Dave Simpson, Orzabal was immersed in the radio version of Duran Duran when his engaging mind was galvanized to compose an impactful sensation such as the fore spotlight. Orzabal was immensely discouraged at the tonality of his voice so he demanded that his partner of their band, Curt Smith, to cantillate instead, which was a prosperous arrangement. As a result of the expeditious production in Roland’s apartment, their third single was polished. “It’s looking out at a mad world from the eyes of a teenager” (Edgers 1). Curt Smith was able to …show more content…
depict Roland’s melancholy childhood due to the fact that he could associate his own despondency with the lyrics. Although it paints a picture of despair, a myriad of content memories revisit at the thought of their production. “The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had” (Azlyrics 1). In contradiction to the depressing portrayal, the lyrics refer to Arthur Janov’s psychology book, The Primal Scream, which justifies that nightmares are beneficial as they release tension (Simpson 1). Later on, Gary Jules modernized the song for the film Donnie Darko in 2003. The renovation caused rejuvenated interest for the origination of Mad World, leading to Tears for Fears’ new album and the genesis of a tour to refurbish their past songs. In the end, Roland’s depression was the prime justification of why the song acquired its status in the top ten on playlists of alternatives, according to the industry publication Radio & Records Inc., and various other royalties in the light of their success in correlation to the audience. Initially, Mad World is divulging the exceptional nightmares of Roland Orzabal’s past. “I believe the world’s gone mad” (Simpson 1). Orzabal told Simpson in an interview that the lyrics from one of Dalek I Love You’s songs perfectly incorporated his emotions towards “alienation from the rat race”. His father, as a veteran of the second world war, evolved a jaded sense of anxiety and depression, leading to psychiatric problems. His father’s discernment of right from wrong was extinguished, resulting in domestic abuse in the family (Simpson 1). Due to his detrimental childhood, Roland was fathomlessly in depression. He abandoned all social affairs and discontinued his pursuit of education. Even though his divulgence of his melancholia was oppressing, it remarkably accumulated a legion of people that could express the same profound emotions and conveyed Tears for Fears exceptionally far in their career. Although Roland Orzabal was the fundamentality of the song, he was not unaccompanied in the oppressive production. He could not have truly elaborated the caliginous resonance without his partner, Curt Smith. “Mad World was easy for me to sing because I could relate to Roland's lyrics” (Simpson 2). When the song was being produced, both artists were in the middle of three sons, were nurtured by single mothers, and had absent fathers throughout their life. Smith’s father passed away when he was only seventeen years old, but the death of his father made no difference in his life. Furthermore, his father was continuously abroad on work excursions, leaving his mother to fend for the family on her own and causing Smith to brew an everlasting abhorrence for his “father figure” (Simpson 2). Even though all of daunting problems of Tears for Fears past were unsettling, their success was produced off of the numerous people who could relate in the 1980s. To start with, the 1980s was a period of time that fulfilled the inauguration of copious predicaments in teens in the United Kingdom (Hagell 1).
“Mad World hasn’t dated because it’s expressive of a period called the teenage menopause, where your hormones are going crazy as you’re leaving childhood. Your fingers are on the cliff and you’re about to drop off, but somehow you cling on” (Simpson 1).
According to Dave Simpson, Roland Orzabal described the teenage period of a person’s life as a hormone-frenzy where all sentimental roller coasters are barely sustainable.
In the last thirty years, concerns of anxiety and depression in fifteen to sixteen year olds have doubled, along with horrendous developments in sixteen to eighteen year olds. In the mid-1980s, over forty percent of sixteen to nineteen years were in full time employment and unconditionally dedicated to their education. Strainful labor can advance to depression, anxiety, etc., which proceeded to the twenty percent decrease of employment rates in teens. Moreover, movements of drug and alcohol use dismally inclined in the 1980s till the present due to the fact that underage drinking in the UK dejectedly surpasses most countries’. Equally important, stress among parents between the 1980s and 2000s have dramatically elevated, negatively influencing single parents and parents receiving low incomes; one of the neverending hardships for Roland’s mother as she deliberately fended for their family by herself. As parents in the 1980s were prone to improbability about where their children were, parents and teens today are willingly choosing to spend more time together (Hagell 2). By proliferating efficacious involvement in their children’s lives, parents can harvest a practical corollary as they can regulate their children’s time, which impacts their well-being. In addition to the quandaries of the 1980s and
relation to Roland’s song, Catcher in the Rye’s main character is a wondrous reflection of the lyrics and time period. In the first place, Holden Caulfield remarkably reciprocates Roland Orzabal’s adolescence and the Mad World lyrics. “All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn faces, bright and early for the daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere” (Azlyrics 1). In the first verse of the song, Holden’s depressing journey is expressed because of how he dwelled on accustomed places in New York from his childhood and aspires to reconnect with adolescent friends. They are presently worn out because of how they have dolefully grown into adulthood and have developed into phonies. Moreover, Holden is going nowhere in life as he kept flunking out of the prep schools even though his parents continuously introduced new opportunities at different schools for him. Similarly, he speculated where the ducks in Central Park fly to in the winter, as he was figuratively inquiring about his unpromising future and if he even had somewhere as an escape (Salinger 67). “Tears are filling up their glasses, no expression” (Azlyrics 1). Holden is irritated by people conserving their true emotions and exhibiting no expression in order to survive in the adult world. He departed from Elkton Hills due to the fact that he despised phonies and could not endure them anymore (Salinger 16). He was bottling up his feelings and would not bear it any longer. “I want to drown my sorrow” (Azlyrics 1). As Holden was a substantial drinker and smoker throughout the novel, he was striving to drink away his agony from Allie’s death and having no one to care for him. “And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda 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 world” (Azlyrics 1).
Furthermore, Holden perceived the burden of interacting with others. He was pursuing his past to discover companionship and purpose within the phony world. “I couldn’t think of anybody to call up” (Salinger 66). As Holden was discommoded by the unmade phone calls, he was petrified of being criticized by others and isolated himself so he would not be maltreated. He inclined into depression and required sustenance, overlapping Roland’s obligation for nourishment. “People never notice anything” (Salinger 12). Salinger shaped Holden’s mind to believe everyone is too fake to consider the simple yet extraordinary aspects of life. Roland duplicates that belief as his lyrics say, “Look right through me” as people are glancing through life as if it was completely transparent (Azlyrics 1).
Ultimately, Roland Orzabal and Holden Caulfield are analogous as they both incorporate the stages of alienation in their lives. The first stage, alienation, is demonstrated as Holden never accomplished the phone calls and never exposed his feelings. Roland discontinues his education and summarizes his feelings as “alienation from the rat race” (Simpson 1). In the second stage, initiation, Holden’s younger brother’s death caused derangement of his entire family. The absence of Roland’s father similarly caused nonrefundable disruption in his family. The third stage, the journey, is where Holden flunked out of school, smoked and drinked, and hired a prostitute. Roland’s journey consisted of disruption of education and termination of all social interaction. In the fourth stage, suffering, Holden was yearning for a nurturing relationship and companionship. Comparatively, Roland desired a father figure and was scarred by the domestic abuse his family endured. Later on, the fifth stage of reconciliation is when Phoebe kissed Holden and put his hunting hat on his head (Salinger 233). Roland’s reconciliation was when he became partners with Curt Smith who corresponded with his torturous past. The last stage, communication, is where Holden told his parents and psychoanalyst about his disruptive feelings. Roland’s communication was when he was able to pour all of his depressional emotions into the song. As their lives go hand in hand, they are perfectly connected through their feelings.
Holden Caulfield continuously corresponds to Roland Orzabal and the Mad World lyrics. Their hardships of depression connected their lives and exhibits the treacherous journey of alienation. All in all, Holden would not identify with any song other than Mad World as it is the only one that perfectly explains his entire life journey of maturing.