Crazy (Willie Nelson song)
| Crazy | |
|---|---|
| Willie Nelson | |
| publication | 1961 |
| length | 2:53 |
| Genre (s) | Honky Tonk |
| Author (s) | Willie Nelson |
| Label | Liberty Records |
| album | ... And Then I Wrote |
| Cover versions | |
| 1961 | Patsy Cline |
| 1999 | LeAnn Rimes |
Crazy is a honky-tonk ballad by Willie Nelson that appeared on his 1961 debut album ... And Then I Wrote on Liberty Records . In the same year, the piece was recorded by Patsy Cline , the version of which reached the top ten on both the Billboard country singles chart and the pop charts.
Emergence
The melody is very complex and gave Patsy Cline the opportunity to demonstrate her skills as a singer with her version. When husband and producer Charlie Dick showed her the demo tape of the then 28-year-old Willie Nelson, she initially refused to record the piece. But then she was convinced of the qualities of the song.
Nelson had written the piece in the spring of 1961 with the help of his friend Oliver English. He had written some successful country songs for others by this point and was considered a gifted songwriter , but had not yet produced his own hit recording. He originally wrote Crazy for Billy Walker , who turned it down on the grounds that it was a "girl's song". The success of Cline's version helped Nelson establish himself further in the country songwriting business.
The lyrics are about love, an almost amusing kind of helplessness. The lyrical ego is crazy ( crazy ) from the feeling of loneliness, sadness or the desire to love the adored person who is not in this kind of emotional dependency and could reject them at any time. Furthermore, the lyric self is amused by its helplessness and wonders why it worries at all.
success
Crazy became one of Cline's greatest hits. Although the song has been recorded by dozens of artists in different genres over the years, it remains inextricably linked with her. Her version was also included by Rolling Stone at number 85 in their list of the 500 best songs of all time in 2004 . Cline's recording of Crazy remained in the country charts for 21 weeks in 1961 and was a crossover hit , which, in addition to number 2 in the country singles charts, also reached number 9 on the pop charts.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rollingstone.com. Retrieved January 12, 2014 .
- ^ Rollingstone.com. Retrieved January 12, 2014 .
- ↑ US catalog number: Decca 31317
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits. 1944 - 2006. 2nd edition. New York, NY: Billboard Books, 2006, p. 83
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 119