Crazy (Seal song)

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"Crazy"
Crazysealsingle.jpg
Single by Seal
from the album Seal
B-side
  • "Sparkle" (7" single)
  • "Krazy" (CD maxi)
Released26 November 1990 (1990-11-26)[1]
Recorded1990
StudioSarm West Studios, Northwest London
Genre
Length
  • 4:30 (single version)
  • 5:57 (album version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Seal
  • Guy Sigsworth
Producer(s)
Seal singles chronology
"Killer"
(1990) 		"Crazy"
(1990) 		"Future Love EP"
(1991)
Music video
"Crazy" on YouTube

"Crazy" is a song written by English singer Seal, and British songwriter Guy Sigsworth. The song was produced by Trevor Horn for Seal's debut album Seal (1991). Released as his official debut single, "Crazy" became one of Seal's biggest hits. It reached 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."[3]

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."[4]

The song's signature is a keyboard mantra that continually swells and swirls, driven by bass-heavy beats and wah-wah pedal guitars played by Simply Red guitarist Kenji Suzuki. 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. In an interview with Q, Seal told:

I had no doubt about 'Crazy'. I always thought it was a potential No. 1—even though it never was! It's the first song I wrote on the guitar, and the first song where I said everything I wanted to say in a concise way. Before that my songs had been too long. But as soon as I wrote the hook, I knew it was a potential hit.[5]

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)[1] and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in January 1991[6] and is Seal's biggest solo hit there.[7] The single sold over 200,000 copies, thus earning a BPI Silver certification.[1] It won Seal a number of awards including the 1992 Ivor Novello award for songwriting.[8]

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.[9] It reached the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top twenty on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.[10][11] It was the most commercially successful single from Seal and was Seal's biggest hit in the US until "Kiss from a Rose", which reached number 1 in 1995. In August 2003 an acoustic version of "Crazy" charted at number four on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart.[12]

Critical reception[]

Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "U.K. newcomer comes on like a cross between Terence Trent D'Arby and Lenny Kravitz on this keyboard-driven funk'n'soul jam."[13] The Daily Vault's Jason Warburg stated that it is "an obvious club track with its propulsive synthesizer melody and driving rhythm section. The Shaft guitar part closing out the bridge is a nice touch, too, demonstrating just how effectively Seal has grafted synthesized dance music onto its funk roots."[14] Pan-European magazine Music & Media called it "adventurous techno-pop by this promising UK singer who sang on Adamski's recent hit single Killer. Produced by Trevor Horn, this classy, galloping mix of funk, soul and pop is currently riding high on the UK charts. Europe should be next."[15] Bob Mack from Spin noted Seal's "stirring vocal that's being compared to Marvin Gaye" and added that "based on a '70s cop-show-type bass synth line, "Crazy" flows natch enough that you hum along on first listening."[16] Siobhan O'Neill commented on the song in the 2010 book 10,001 Songs You Must Hear…, "Full of drug and dance scene references, "Crazy" blends soulful lyrics and husky vocals with Horn's trademark sweeping orchestration and a voguish electronic backing—a combination that, in the wake of this and Massive Attack, became the template for a whole strand of dance music."[17]

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),[18] 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 song comprises the majority of the soundtrack for the final chunk of Brian Jordan Alvarez's surreal comedy show "Stupid Idiots".

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) – 5:09
  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[]

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.

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.

Indie artist Brian Eaton covered the song on his 2011 pop/rock album Graphic Nature.[47]

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"
Crazy (Alanis Morissette song).jpg
Single by Alanis Morissette
from the album The Collection
Released8 November 2005
Recorded2005
Genre
Length
  • 3:39
  • 5:22 (alternative take)
LabelMaverick
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Glen Ballard
Alanis Morissette singles chronology
"Eight Easy Steps"
(2004) 		"Crazy"
(2005) 		"Underneath"
(2008)
Music video
"Crazy" on YouTube

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."[50] 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."[51]

Chart performances[]

Released in the US 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.[52] 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.[53] 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 a 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)[54] 20
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[55] 4
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[56] 3
Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100 Oficiální)[57] 22
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[58] 6
Germany (Official German Charts)[59] 38
Greece (IFPI)[60] 22
Italy (FIMI)[61] 3
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[62] 40
Scotland (OCC)[63] 43
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[64] 12
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[65] 57
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[66] 31
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[67] 65
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40[68] 10
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[52] 4
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[68][69] 6
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales[68] 6
U.S. Billboard Pop 100[68][69] 95

References[]

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External links[]

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