This article is the result of research associated with the representation of madness and the insane in contemporary Brazilian songs. Michel Foucault's considerations about the history of madness and those of Mary Jane Spink about discursive practices and the production of meaning formed the theoretical base for the study. The methodology consisted in mapping the circulation of words and meanings about madness in thirty songs collected by Google's search engine. The results of the mapping reveal the polyphony of the literary/musical discourse, and a heterogeneous discursive panorama in which five zones of meaning about madness and the insane stand out. Thus, it can be concluded that these signs are prevalent on a day-to-day basis, Some of the meanings in the songs refer to institutionalized ways of dealing with madness, others constitute modes of subjectivity that flee from routine treatment. By delineating symbolic formations that permeate social imagery, this article brings systematic attention to popular representations of various forms of madness of relevance to multidisciplinary fields in mental health, discussing their appearance in popular music and their possible repercussions.