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Crazy (Seal song)

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"Crazy"
Song
B-side
  • "Sparkle" (7" single)
  • "Krazy" (CD maxi)

"Crazy" is a song written by English soul artist Seal and Guy Sigsworth. The song was produced by Trevor Horn for Seal's debut album Seal (1991). Released as his debut single, "Crazy" became one of Seal's biggest hits, reaching the top five in the United Kingdom while becoming his first top ten single in the United States. It has since been covered by several artists, including Alanis Morissette, whose version was released as a single from her album The Collection (2005).

Background and composition

Seal wrote "Crazy" in 1990 inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. In 2015, Seal said of the song's conception in 1990: "I felt the cycle had reached its apex. I felt the world changing and I felt profound things happening."[1]

According to the song's producer Trevor Horn, "Crazy" was made over the course of two months: "Crazy wasn't an easy record to make, because we were aiming high".[2]

The song's signature is a keyboard mantra that continually swells and swirls, driven by bass-heavy beats and wah-wah pedal guitars. Its floating, ambient stylings established a sound years before "The Politics of Dancing" by Paul Van Dyk or William Orbit's work with Madonna and All Saints. Orbit produced a remix of the track for the single release. Seal's vocals are deeply melodic and soulful, at times with a characteristic rasp, while at others soaring high above the backing track.

Release and commercial performance

In the United Kingdom the song was released as the first single from the album Seal in November 1990 (see 1990 in music)[3] and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in January 1991[4] and is Seal's biggest solo hit there.[5] The single sold over 200,000 copies, thus earning a BPI Silver certification.[3] It won Seal a number of awards including the 1992 Ivor Novello award for songwriting.[6]

The single was released in the United States in 1991, debuting at number eighty-three on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-June; it peaked at number seven in late August and remained on the chart for nineteen weeks, until October.[7] It reached the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top twenty on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.[8][9] It was the most commercially successful single from Seal and was Seal's biggest hit in the U.S. until "Kiss from a Rose", which reached #1 in 1995. In August 2003 an acoustic version of "Crazy" charted at number four on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart.[10]

Music video and use in other media

The single's music video, directed by Big TV!, features multiple re-creations of Seal himself performing the song against a primarily white background. A female dancer appears just before the bridge of the song, and at the end Seal holds a dove while snow falls on him.

The song plays during a party scene in the film Naked in New York (1993),[11] is heard in a Baywatch episode, in the trailer for the film The Basketball Diaries (1995) and featured in a scene in Clockers, released in 1995. It is also heard in the middle of "True Calling," the second episode of Season 6 of TV's Cold Case. It was also used as a theme song for the ABC-TV series Murder One, which was transmitted during the 1995–1996 television season. It is also heard in the film Mystery Date. The song featured in the 1999 Robbie the Reindeer film Hooves of Fire, where it is performed by a seal.

Seal is seen singing this song on an episode of the ABC series Eli Stone.

The middle break of the song, "In a sky full of people / Only some want to fly / Isn't that crazy?", is repeated towards the end of Seal's 1996 hit interpretation of "Fly Like An Eagle."

The song is the fourth track on Just Say Anything, volume five of the Just Say Yes collection.

Track listing

CD
  1. "Crazy" — 4:30
  2. "Crazy" (extended version) — 5:59
  3. "Krazy" — 6:26 (producers: Trevor Horn, Tim Simenon)
CD maxi-single
  1. "Crazy" (7" Mix) — 4:30
  2. "Crazy" (William Orbit Mix) — 5:25
  3. "Crazy" (Acoustic Version / Instrumental Version) — 6:57
  4. "Crazy" (A Cappella Mix) — 3:27
  5. "Sparkle" (Extended Version) — 6:23
  6. "Krazy" — 6:27
  7. "Crazy" (Do You Know The Way To L.A. Mix) — 3:50
  8. "Crazy" (Chick On My Tip Mix) — 6:47
7"
  1. "Crazy" — 4:30
  2. "Sparkle" — 3:36

Charts

Chart successions

Preceded by Swedish number-one single
13 February 1991 – 27 February 1991 (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Knockin' Boots" by Candyman
 Dutch Top 40 number-one single
23 February 1991 – 9 March 1991 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Liefde voor muziek" by Raymond van het Groenewoud
Preceded by Swiss number-one single
10 March 1991 – 31 March 1991 (4 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Eurochart Hot 100 number-one single
16 March 1991 (1 week)

Cover versions

The hard rock band Talisman covered the song on their 1995 album Life, and a version by power metal band Iron Savior is included as a bonus track on their 2002 album Condition Red.

British heavy metal band Panic Cell covered the song for their 2010 album Fire It Up. They have also been performing it live at various live shows. It has also been announced that the song will be the first single taken from the new album.

The Greek artist Helena Paparizou, best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, covered the song in her album Iparhi Logos released in 2006.

Two cover versions were released in 2003: one by punk covers band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their 2003 album Take a Break, and another by alternative metal band Mushroomhead as a hidden track on their 2003 album XIII. In 2004, the song was covered by Brooklyn Bounce.

The song is also a staple cover during live performances by New York City based jamband U-Melt.

Indie rock band Yeasayer performed it on Triple J in their Like a Version segment on Friday 11 February 2011.

Hip hop duo R'n'G the melody for 1998 single "Open Up Your Mind".

World Championship Wrestling used a version of this song for The Outsiders theme and for the 1996 WCW Bash at the Beach and Fall Brawl: War Games pay-per-views.

An animated Seal sings this song at a party in the animated movie Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire.

Indie pop artist Brian Eaton covered the song on his 2011 album Graphic Nature.[32]

French pop singer Tal covered this song for her debut album Le droit de rêver in the deluxe edition released in 2012.

Alanis Morissette version

"Crazy"
Song

Alanis Morissette covered the song for a Gap advertisement in 2005, and a James Michael-produced remix of her version, which was originally produced by Morissette's longtime collaborator Glen Ballard, was released as a single from her greatest hits album The Collection (2005). Her version is briefly heard over an establishing shot of Central Park in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. Morissette said of the cover, "it's poking fun not only at how I've been perceived but also at what I've accurately been perceived as."[33] She called the main line in the song, "You're never going to survive/Unless you get a little crazy", "one of the simplest, yet most profound statements."[34]

Chart performances

Released in the U.S. in mid-October 2005 (see 2005 in music), Morissette's cover was less successful than Seal's original; it failed to chart on the Hot 100, instead debuting and peaking at number four on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart (which comprises the most popular songs yet to enter the Hot 100) in late November.[35] It was another top ten hit for Morissette on the Adult Top 40 chart and was popular in nightclubs, becoming Morissette's second top ten Hot Dance Club Play hit after "Eight Easy Steps" (2004). It reached number twenty-nine in Canada and the top forty across much of Continental Europe, but in the United Kingdom it became Morissette's lowest peaking single, reaching sixty-five.

Maxi single track listing

1. "Crazy" (Claude Le Gache Club Mix) (Edit)
2. "Crazy" (Eddie Baez Coo Coo Club Mix) (Edit)
3. "Crazy" (Monk Mix Of Meds) (Edit)
4. "Crazy" (Interstate Mix) (Edit)
5. "Crazy" (Claude Le Gache Mixshow)

Music video

The single's video was directed by Meiert Avis, who directed the video for Morissette's "Everything" (2004), and shot in Los Angeles, California in the week ending 24 September.[36] In it Morissette is seen walking the streets at night, performing the song in a club and obsessively following a man (played by Chris William Martin) and his girlfriend. Eventually, Morissette confronts the man at a party. During an 22 October appearance on the UK television show popworld, Morissette said the video's final shot, which is of a photo showing her and the woman close together, is supposed to reveal to the audience (who, before this point, are meant to believe the man is her ex-boyfriend) that she was actually following the woman.

Charts

Chart (2005–06) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[37] 20
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders)[38] 4
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia)[39] 3
Canada Top 50 Singles[40] 29
Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100 Oficiální)[41] 22
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[42] 6
Invalid chart entered Germany2 38
Italy (FIMI)[43] 3
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[44] 40
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[45] 12
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[46] 57
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[47] 31
UK (Official Charts Company)[48] 65
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40[49] 10
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[35] 4
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[49][50] 6
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales[49] 6
U.S. Billboard Pop 100[49][50] 95

References

  1. ^ "Seal – Crazy Lyrics". Genius. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  2. ^ http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2014/feb/13/trevor-horn-video-killed-the-radio-star-ztt
  3. ^ a b "SEAL , CRAZY , Silver , Tuesday 1 January 1991". BPI. Retrieved 8 January 2009. [dead link‍]
  4. ^ a b "1991 Top 40 Official UK Singles Archive - 19th January 1991". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  5. ^ everyHit - UK Top 40 Hit Database. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  6. ^ "Crazy". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  7. ^ Billboard. Issues dated from 22 June to 26 October 1991.
  8. ^ a b c d "Seal - Billboard Singles". Billboard and Allmusic. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  9. ^ a b c "Seal - Artist Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  10. ^ a b Billboard. 16 August 2003.
  11. ^ "Soundtracks for Naked in New York". IMDB.com. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  12. ^ "Seal – Crazy". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  13. ^ "Seal – Crazy" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  14. ^ "Seal – Crazy" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  15. ^ "Crazy in Canadian Top Singles Chart". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  16. ^ a b Steve Hawtin; et al. "Song artist 342 - Seal". Tsort.info. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  17. ^ "Seal – Crazy" (in French). Les classement single.
  18. ^ "Crazy in Irish Chart". IRMA. Retrieved 30 July 2008. Only result of the 2nd page when searching "Seal"
  19. ^ "The best-selling singles of 1991 in Italy". HitParadeItalia (it). Retrieved 12 July 2013.
    63. Crazy - Seal [#9]
  20. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Seal" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  21. ^ "Seal – Crazy" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  22. ^ "Seal – Crazy". Top 40 Singles.
  23. ^ "Seal – Crazy". VG-lista.
  24. ^ "Seal – Crazy". Singles Top 100.
  25. ^ "Seal – Crazy". Swiss Singles Chart.
  26. ^ 1991 Australian Singles Chart aria.com (Retrieved 30 July 2008)
  27. ^ 1991 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved 30 July 2008)
  28. ^ "Single top 100 over 1991" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  29. ^ 1991 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved 30 July 2008)
  30. ^ Video on YouTube
  31. ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1991". Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  32. ^ "Graphic Nature - Brian Eaton". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  33. ^ Cooper, Tim. "Still crazy after all these years". The Independent. 11 January 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2006.
  34. ^ Tecson, Brandee J. "Alanis Sheds Her Angst In The Form Of A Hits Album". MTV News. 16 November 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  35. ^ a b Billboard. 3 December 2005.
  36. ^ Staff. "For The Record: Quick News On Young Buck, Dr. Dre, Bright Eyes, Switchfoot, Elliott Smith, Jin & More". MTV News. 30 September 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  37. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  38. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy" (in Dutch). Ultratip.
  39. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy" (in French). Ultratip.
  40. ^ "Alanis Morissette". Mariah-charts.com. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  41. ^ Čns Ifpi
  42. ^ "Alanis Morissette: Crazy" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat.
  43. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy". Top Digital Download.
  44. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  45. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy" Canciones Top 50.
  46. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy". Singles Top 100.
  47. ^ "Alanis Morissette – Crazy". Swiss Singles Chart.
  48. ^ "Alanis Morissette". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  49. ^ a b c d "Alanis Morissette - Billboard Singles". Billboard and Allmusic. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  50. ^ a b "Alanis Morissette - Artist Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
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