In case anyone was curious, the other song that sounds like Mad World is Gone Away by the Offspring. My memory was jogged as soon as
aretina mentioned a lyric from it. Further investigation reveals that not only do the two songs briefly share a melody, they also share the same chord progression on the verse, namely Fm Fm Eb Bb.
Gone Away also has this same progression on the chorus. Mad World's chorus differs slightly. I found a midi of the cover of Mad World, and it's quite easy and euphonious to sing the tune of Gone Away to the instrumental part of Mad World with the melody muted. The parts where the melody is the same (Gone Away's "now that you've gone away", Mad World's "going nowhere, going nowhere", and their analogs in the other verses) are certainly not my imagination.
I wonder if Tears For Fears is aware that the Offspring copied heavily and noticeably (though perhaps not consciously) from one of their songs.
*
( Survivor spoilers + unseemly squealing )
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Gone Away also has this same progression on the chorus. Mad World's chorus differs slightly. I found a midi of the cover of Mad World, and it's quite easy and euphonious to sing the tune of Gone Away to the instrumental part of Mad World with the melody muted. The parts where the melody is the same (Gone Away's "now that you've gone away", Mad World's "going nowhere, going nowhere", and their analogs in the other verses) are certainly not my imagination.
I wonder if Tears For Fears is aware that the Offspring copied heavily and noticeably (though perhaps not consciously) from one of their songs.
*
( Survivor spoilers + unseemly squealing )