Everybody Loves a Happy Ending is the sixth studio album by Tears for Fears, released some 9 years after the band's previous studio album Raoul and the Kings of Spain. It was released on September 14, 2004 in the US, and March 72005 in the UK and Europe. This is also the first album featuring Roland Orzabal with Curt Smith since 1989's The Seeds of Love. Work on the album began in 2000, after Smith and Orzabal had ended their longstanding feud, though many people mistakenly believe the album was made in the wake of Gary Jules' successful cover version of "Mad World" for the film soundtrack to Donnie Darko. The album's release was then delayed several times due to record company problems (it was initially to be released on Arista but the band decided not to remain with the label following the company's change in upper management). Influences from both Pink Floyd and The Beatles seem evident on the album, with the intro and bridge of the title track featuring the same chords (Em7 and A7) as the main parts of the former's "Breathe", and the main verses bearing resemblance to the latter's "A Day in the Life". Additionally, "Who Killed Tangerine?" also appears to have a sample from the instrumental transition in "A Day in the Life", and was also featured prominently in the climax of the 2005 film Fever Pitch. They even borrow from their own work on "Closest Thing to Heaven" using a drum break lifted directly from the title track in "Sowing the Seeds of Love".
