Doc Brown and Yungun - Mad World Remix

Published: Jan. 25, 2004, midnight

UK MC Doc Brown here trades in the whimsical universality of the Tears For Fears lyrics for a stark but affecting account of why exactly his world is going crazy and adds a lilting hip hop beat to the catchy piano hook of the original. A coherent social consciousness – he alludes to 'the tramp with his change cup' – underpins the fierce brutalism of his account of why we're going nowhere: 'It's a disgrace / this place is like a whorehouse / the crooked system's the pimp / that's got us working till we're worn out'. An unnamed collaborator comes in on the second verse to give an account of his education which is so much more detailed and evocative than the original's assertion that 'I was very nervous / no one knew me'. Doc Brown's idea that insanity is to do with being 'a rat trapped in the system / of capitalism' is compelling and his powerful delivery contrasts perfectly with Gary Jules' ethereal vocal. This version deserves to displace the original in the public consciousness – it would be a mad world if it didn't.