Chilling Mad World Rendition Loses One Child Singer Every 3 Seconds

Tears for Fears’ 1982 classic “Mad World” is a great song no matter how you arrange it. The new-wave hit was popular in its time, but gained a new level of notoriety when it was covered for the 2001 film Donnie Darko. It’s a powerful song on it own, but it’s hard to imagine the song used in a more powerful way than this.

“Every three seconds the world loses a child. Again, this year many children will not see their fifth birthday. The reasons for this tragedy are diverse; hunger, malnutrition, dirty water or the absence of vaccine protection. Every single one of these problems can weaken the immune system so much that avoidable diseases lead to life-threatening danger,” says the International Children’s Fund.

The charity enlisted the German boys’ choir Wuppertaler Kurrende to perform the song with one special caveat – every few seconds, one of the boys would exit the stage. It’s a potent way to get their message across, and it makes for a pretty chilling viral video. Check it out: