Crazy (Seal song)

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“Crazy”
“Crazy” cover
Single by Seal
from the album Seal
B-side "Sparkle" (7" single)
"Krazy" (CD maxi)
Released 1990
Format CD single
CD maxi
7" single
Recorded Sarm West Studios, Northwest London
Genre Soul
Length 4:30
Label Sire
Writer(s) Seal
Guy Sigsworth
Producer Trevor Horn
Seal singles chronology
"Killer"
(1991)		 "Crazy"
(1991)		 "Future Love EP"
(1991)

"Crazy" is a song written by English soul artist Seal (music and lyrics) and producer Guy Sigsworth (music only). The song was 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

[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.

The video for "Crazy" features multiple recreations of Seal himself.
The video for "Crazy" features multiple recreations of Seal himself.

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" (1994). 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 Big TV!, 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) and featured in a scene in Spike Lee's Clockers (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 alternative metal band Mushroomhead as a hidden track on their 2003 album XIII. The song is also a staple cover during live performances by New York City based jamband U-Melt.

[edit] Track listings

CD maxi
  1. "Crazy" (4:30)
  2. "Crazy" (extended version) (5:59)
  3. "Krazy" (6:26)
7" single
  1. "Crazy" (4:30)
  2. "Sparkle" (3:36)

[edit] Charts

Chart (1990) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[1] 2
Chart (1991) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3][5] 7
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[3][5] 5
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales[5] 17
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40[6] 5
Australia 9
Germany 2
Austria 5
Switzerland 1
France 5
Italy 9
Sweden 1
Norway 3
Chart (2003) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks[4] 4

[edit] Alanis Morissette version

“Crazy”
“Crazy” cover
Single by Alanis Morissette
from the album The Collection
Recorded 2005
Genre Pop Rock
Length 3:39
Label Maverick
Writer(s) Alanis Morissette
Producer Glen Ballard
Alanis Morissette singles chronology
"Eight Easy Steps"
(2004)		 "Crazy"
(2005)		 "Underneath"
(2008)

[edit] Background

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."[7] 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."[8]

[edit] 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.[9] 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.

[edit] Music video

The video for Morissette's cover features her stalking an ex-lover.
The video for Morissette's cover features her stalking an ex-lover.

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.[10] 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] Remixes

  • Crazy (Glen Ballard mix)
  • Crazy (Tony Kanal mix)
  • Crazy (Claude Le Gache club mix)
  • Crazy (Claude Le Gache club edit)
  • Crazy (Eddie Baez coo coo club mix)
  • Crazy (Eddie Baez coo coo club edit)
  • Crazy (Monk's mix of meds)
  • Crazy (Monk's mix of meds edit)
  • Crazy (Interstate full length mix)
  • Crazy (Interstate full length mix)
  • Crazy (Claude Le Gache mixshow)

[edit] Charts

Chart (2005) Peak
position
Canada Top 50 Singles[11] 29
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[9] 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
Czech republic Singles Chart [15] 22
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
Brazil 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
Preceded by
"Sadeness Part I" by Enigma		 Swedish number-one single (by Seal)
February 13, 1991 - February 27, 1991		 Succeeded by
"Joyride" by Roxette
Preceded by
"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"
by C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams		 Swiss number-one single (by Seal)
March 10, 1991 - March 31, 1991

[edit] References

  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. ^ a b c "Seal - Billboard Singles". Billboard and All Music Guide. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
  6. ^ "Seal". Rock on the Net. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
  7. ^ Cooper, Tim. "Still crazy after all these years". The Independent. January 11, 2006. Retrieved August 15, 2006.
  8. ^ Tecson, Brandee J. "Alanis Sheds Her Angst In The Form Of A Hits Album". MTV News. November 16, 2005. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
  9. ^ a b Billboard. December 3, 2005.
  10. ^ 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.
  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.
  15. ^ Čns Ifpi
v • d • e
Alanis Morissette
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"Too Hot" • "Walk Away" • "Feel Your Love" • "Plastic" • "An Emotion Away" • "No Apologies" • "Real World" • "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time" • "You Oughta Know" • "Hand in My Pocket" • "All I Really Want" • "Ironic" • "You Learn" • "Head over Feet" • "Uninvited" • "Thank U" • "Joining You" • "Unsent" • "So Pure" • "That I Would Be Good" • "Hands Clean" • "Precious Illusions" • "Everything" • "Out Is Through" • "Eight Easy Steps" • "Crazy" • "Underneath" • "Incomplete"
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