Crazy (Seal song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Crazy"
Single by Seal
from the album Seal
Released	1990
Recorded	Sarm West Studios, Northwest London
Genre	ambient
Label	Sire
Writer(s)	Seal
Producer(s)	Trevor Horn
Chart positions
#2 (UK) #7 (United States)
Seal singles chronology
"Killer" (1991)	"Crazy" (1991)	"Future Love EP" (1991)

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

Contents 1 History 1.1 Style and success 1.2 Cover versions 2 Charts 2.1 Seal 2.2 Alanis Morissette 3 Notes

[edit] History

[edit] Style and success

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.

It was released as the first single from the album Seal in November 1990 (see 1990 in music) in the United Kingdom. "Crazy" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and helped Seal gain exposure for the first time. As of 2006, it is Seal's biggest hit there.^[1] 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.^[2] It reached the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top twenty on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.^[3] It was the most commercially successful single from Seal, and it is Seal's biggest hit in the U.S. after "Kiss from a Rose" (1995). In August 2003 an acoustic version of "Crazy" charted at number four on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart.^[4]

The single's music video, directed by Andy Delaney and Monty Whitebloom, features multiple recreations of Seal himself performing the song against a 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 is heard in the trailer for the film The Basketball Diaries (1995).

[edit] Cover versions

The hard rock band Talisman covered the song on their 1996 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 industrial metal band Mushroomhead as a hidden track on their 2003 album XIII. 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 Alanis Morissette: 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."^[5] 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."^[6]

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.^[7] 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, number thirty-three on the United World Chart and the top forty across much of Continental Europe, but in the United Kingdom it became Morissette's lowest peaking single, reaching sixty-five.

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 September 24.^[8] In it Morissette is seen walking the streets at night, performing the song in a club and obsessively following a man and his girlfriend. Eventually, Morissette confronts the man at a party. During an October 22 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.

[edit] Charts

[edit] Seal Chart (1990) Peak position UK Singles Chart[1] 2 Chart (1990) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3][9] 7 U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[3][9] 5 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales[9] 17 U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40[10] 5 Chart (2003) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks[4] 4

[edit] Alanis Morissette Chart (2005) Peak position Canada Top 50 Singles[11] 29 U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[7] 6 U.S. Billboard Pop 100[12][13] 95 U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40[13] 10 U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40[14] 27 South Africa 5FM Top 40[11] 2 Italy Top 50 Singles[11] 3 Austria Top 75 Singles[11] 20 Spain Los 40 Principales[citation needed] 23 Tokio Hot 100[11] 27 Switzerland Top 100 Singles[11] 31 United World Chart[11] 33 Germany Top 100 Singles[11] 38 Brasil Top 100 Singles[11] 56 Sweden Top 60 Singles[11] 57 UK Top 75 Singles[11] 65 Chart (2006) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[12][13] 6

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} everyHit - UK Top 40 Hit Database. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
2. ^ Billboard. Issues dated from June 22 to October 26, 1991.
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Seal - Artist Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
4. ^ ^{a b} Billboard. August 16, 2003.
5. ^ Cooper, Tim. "Still crazy after all these years". The Independent. January 11, 2006. Retrieved August 15, 2006.
6. ^ Tecson, Brandee J. "Alanis Sheds Her Angst In The Form Of A Hits Album". MTV News. November 16, 2005. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
7. ^ ^{a b} Billboard. December 3, 2005.
8. ^ Staff. "For The Record: Quick News On Young Buck, Dr. Dre, Bright Eyes, Switchfoot, Elliott Smith, Jin & More". MTV News. September 30, 2005. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
9. ^ ^{a b c} "Seal - Billboard Singles". Billboard and All Music Guide. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
10. ^ "Seal". Rock on the Net. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
11. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} "Alanis Morissette". Mariah-charts.com. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
12. ^ ^{a b} "Alanis Morissette - Artist Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
13. ^ ^{a b c} "Alanis Morissette - Billboard Singles". Billboard and All Music Guide. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
14. ^ "Alanis Morissette". Rock on the Net. Retrieved December 17, 2006.