Madness song appears heartless after author stands up (9)
I believe the answer is:
stupidity
'madness' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'song appears heartless after author stands up' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'up' is within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stupidity that I've seen before include "Dull-wittedness" , "Folly" , "Lack of intelligence" .)