SONG: Crazy
ARTIST: Patsy Cline
YEAR: 1961
Listen to it here:
THE SONG:
“Crazy” was written by Willie Nelson during his hour commute from Pasadena to the Esquire ballroom around 1958. Willie recounts that he had a tough time shopping the song around as most country songs at the time mostly used the standard 3 chord progression, and “Crazy” was a bit more complicated. Patsy Cline had told her husband that she didn’t want to sing any more Willie Nelson songs as she didn’t want to sing about being sad and vulnerable, but Nelson and fellow writer Hank Cochran drove the demo to Patsy’s house and sat in the car while she and her husband listened to it. Patsy told Cochran to bring Willie in so he could teach her how to sing it, as Willie’s phrasing always had him behind the beat. Cline agreed to record the song, but it had to wait a few weeks as she had been in a car accident and bruised her ribs, making it hard for her to sing the higher notes. In the meantime the musicians were booked, including the Jordanaires as backup singers. On September 15, 1961 Patsy was well enough to record and cut the song in 1 take. “Crazy” was released in October of 1961 and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 as a crossover hit. The song became Patsy’s signature song and the country song that generated the most royalties. The song is now considered a country music standard and has been covered many times.
THE ARTIST:
For info about Patsy Cline, check out our review of her song “I Fall to Pieces”!
FACTOID CORNER:
In 1996 “Crazy” became the all-time most played song in jukeboxes across the United States.
Patsy’s parents were 16 years old and 43 years old respectively when they had her.
KELLY’S REVIEW:
Ok first of all, I don’t think I knew before researching this song that Willie Nelson wrote it, but now in firm possession of that information, listening to this I can hear Willie allllll over it! Anyway, back to Patsy. I think I’ve mentioned before that country music isn’t typically what I turn to (like, ever) when I want to listen to music, so this isn’t a recording I would seek out. Patsy has a nice crooning voice when I divorce the country effects of the song from it. She has really good and interesting phrasing, and it sounds like maybe she’s sung a jazz number once or twice in her life. Her voice isn’t remarkable, but it’s nice. The tinkly piano in this song gives me western saloon vibes where any minute some mysterious stranger will burst in through the double-swinging doors and the pianist will abruptly stop, grab his hat and sheet music and slink away. The drummer is definitely on ‘set it and forget it’, but I don’t think we need much more from him here. There’s not really much more instrumentation of note here besides the back up vocals of the Jordanaires, and honestly they sound pretty great – smooth, subtle, in tune, so kudos to them. For the song itself, the melody is interesting, lots of leaps and bounds. Lyrically it’s a well done breakup song, more than just ‘you left and now I’m sad’. I recognize that this song is a classic, but even after giving it a hard listen, it’s not something I’m going to add to my playlist.
HOLLY’S REVIEW:
I think those of you following along at home have a decent grip on my musical tastes at this point. I would say that this song definitely doesn’t fall into the category of music I choose to listen to for fun. But on a closer listen, maybe this song isn’t quite as bad as I’ve always thought it is. I’m not a huge fan of what Patsy Cline chooses to do with her voice in this one. She has good control, and her voice sounds strong (the excessive reverb may be boosting that a bit, though). But I feel that she overworks this song too much with the little guttural things and the weirdly excessive dynamics on some of the long notes. The melody is actually really nice, and original and maybe a more clean and spare singing of it would demonstrate that more obviously. The recording is good though. I like the balance, I like the piano most of the time, and the Jordanaires really are one of the best things about this recording, especially the bass singer. The subtle doo-wop and clean harmonies add a lot. The bass gets to actually do a decent amount in the song, and the drums and guitar…..are there. So I guess, what I’m saying is I like the song, I like the melody, I like the Jordanaires, but unfortunately to me, I don’t love Patsy Cline specifically in this one. All in all, better than what I was bracing for when I saw this song up next on our list!
Average mark out of 10:
Holly: 7.5/10
Kelly: 7/10
Other notable versions of this song:
Norah Jones’ live performance takes it to easy listening town:
The OG Willie Nelson:
Listen with us!
Link to 1,001 Songs to Hear Before You Die spotify playlist:
Holly & Kelly Music Review 