Gary Jules - Songs

Songs

Jules recorded the song "Mad World" for the 2001 film Donnie Darko and released it as a single in December 2003. This timing allowed it to become the Christmas Number One single in the UK for that year. The cover also become a popular choice for background music in television dramas, showing up in several episodes of the daytime drama General Hospital, as well as individual episodes of Without a Trace, Smallville, Jericho, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. It was used in the trailer for the 2010 film The Crazies and the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps' 2010 Production "Mad World". More recently, Jules' cover of Mad World was used on Stolen voices, Buried secrets from Investigation Discovery, in Silent Witness, part one of Terminus, and to accompany images of the Nautilus in episode 3 of the documentary "The Great Barrier Reef".

Adam Lambert sang a cover of "Mad World" that was heavily influenced by Jules' version at two different points in his American Idol competition, as well as during the American Idols Live! 2009 tour. Following its appearance on the popular television show, Jules' cover of the song rose to #11 on the iTunes Store.

The song "Something Else" was featured on the Season 5 episode "My Fallen Idol" of the NBC show Scrubs.

The song "Gone Daddy" is based upon an experience that led to Jules relocating his family from Southern California to North Carolina. A neighbor was gunned down one night in Los Angeles and while the police were investigating the shooting, Jules approached one of the officers, explained that his child was napping, and asked if the officer knew when they would be finished. The officer said he did not know, but that the family could leave Los Angeles if they didn't like it. Jules took the advice to heart and relocated shortly thereafter.

Jules' song "Wichita" was inspired by a class he took at UCLA regarding Native American history. During the class he read a story about Native Americans following herds of buffalo around the nation to survive. The construction of the intercontinental railroad disrupted this migratory pattern because the buffalo would not cross it, and millions died as a result. Jules himself has spent only one night in Wichita, Kansas.

Jules has stated that "No Poetry" is his personal favorite of the songs he has written.

He also sang on the Esquimaux song "Honey & Dear" from their album Perfecto!.