Crazy

(Willie Nelson)

This song was written by the country singer-songwriter Willie Nelson in the late 1950s or very early 1960s in what has been said was less than hour in his commute from Pasadena to work at the Esquire Ballroom in Texas. He wrote this song along with “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “Night Life” in just a week.

Willie Nelson has said in his autobiography that he wondered if he was “Crazy” and originally named the song “Stupid” as it was during a difficult period for him when he was working several jobs and still trying to provide enough income to support his wife and three children. He made a demo of the song with the musician Sleepy LaBeef on upright bass.

After moving to Nashville, Tennessee from Texas with his family, Nelson first sold encyclopaedias while living with the country music singer Billy Walker who also took him to see music publishers and also get him acquainted with other songwriters and artists. He was taken on by Pamper Music after his songs “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “Hello Walls” had been successful for Billy Walker and Faron Young respectively.

One of Willie Nelson’s workmates at Pamper Music, Hank Cochran, decided to play “Crazy” to Owen Bradley, who was Patsy Cline’s producer, and as he had shown some interest in it Billy Walker was asked not to record it and gave him another song to do. Willie Nelson waited in the car for either Hank Cochran or Patsy Cline’s husband Charlie Dick to play her the demo at her house before he was invited in and asked for him to teach her how to sing the song, because he sang it behind the beat .

Patsy Cline recorded the song in 1961 with the addition of the electric bassist Harold Bradley, the bassist Bob Moore, the electric guitarist Grady Martin, the pianist Floyd Cramer, the drummer Buddy Harman and the background vocals of The Jordanaires. It was released in the October and went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and became a crossover hit when it went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Due to the success of this song and her previous single “I Fall to Pieces” she was named 1961 Favourite Country Artist of the Year by Billboard. It didn’t appear on the UK Singles chart until 1987 when it went to No. 79 and then to to three years later in 1990 it reached No. 14. In 1991 it went to No. 14 on the Irish Singles chart.

Further accolades were when it was named No. 2 of the All Time Top 40 Jukebox Singles by the Amusement and Music Operators Association in 1989 and in 1992 the Patsy Cline version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2003 the Library of Congress inducted it into the National Recording Registry and in 2004 it was listed No. 85 as Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time followed by No. 195 in 2021 and in 2024 it was ranked as No. 3 in it’s 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time. In 2018 the NME added it to their 25 Best Country Songs.

The song has been recorded by over 100 other artists which include its songwriter Willie Nelson as well as Paul Anka, Shirley Bassey, Bon Jovi, Michael Buble, Johnny Cash, Vic Damone, Beverly D’Angelo, Craig Duncan, James Galway, Crystal Gayle, Dobie Gray, Frank Ifield, Julio Iglesias, Chaka Khan, Johnny Mathis, Charlie McCoy, Don McLean, LeAnn Rimes, Linda Ronstadt, Leon Russell, Kay Starr, Curtis Stigers, Dottie West, Rusty York and Neil Young along with many others.

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Crazy

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