"Crazy" | ||||
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File:Crazysealsingle.jpg | ||||
Single by Seal | ||||
from the album Seal | ||||
B-side | "Sparkle" (7" single) "Krazy" (CD maxi) |
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Released | 26 November 1990 (UK) 22 May 1991 (US) |
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Format | CD, 7", 12" | |||
Recorded | Sarm West Studios, Northwest London | |||
Genre | Electronica, pop, soul, funk | |||
Length | 4:30 (single version) 5:57 (extended mix/album version) |
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Label | ZTT (UK) Sire (US) |
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Writer(s) | Seal (lyrics & music) Guy Sigsworth (music) |
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Producer | Trevor Horn | |||
Seal singles chronology | ||||
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"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 first 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) and the British metal band Panic Cell.
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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.
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[2] and is Seal's biggest solo hit there.[3] 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.[4]
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.[5] It reached the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top twenty on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.[6] 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.[7]
The single's music video, directed by Big TV!, features multiple re-creations 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 plays during a party scene in the film "Naked in New York"(1993),[8] is heard in a Baywatch episode, in the trailer for the film The Basketball Diaries (1995) and featured in a scene in Spike Lee's Clockers (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 (1995–96).
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 "Fly Like an Eagle (song)".
The song is the fourth track on Just Say Anything, volume five of the Just Say Yes collection.
Most recently, indie rock/pop artist Brian Eaton covered the song on his 2011 album "Graphic Nature."[9] 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.
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 February 11, 2011.
Alanis Morissette covered this song in 2005, released as a Maxi-single with two versions.
World Championship Wrestling used a version of this song for The Outsiders theme and for the 1996 WCW Bash at the Beach.
An animated seal sings this song at a party in the animated movie Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire.
Peak positions [link]
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End of year charts [link]
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Preceded by "Sadeness Part I" by Enigma |
Swedish number-one single 13 February 1991 – 27 February 1991 (2 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Joyride" by Roxette |
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 "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams |
Swiss number-one single 10 March 1991 – 31 March 1991 (4 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Joyride" by Roxette |
Preceded by "Sadeness Part I" by Enigma |
Eurochart Hot 100 number-one single 16 March 1991 (1 week) |
"Crazy" | ||||
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Single by Alanis Morissette | ||||
from the album The Collection | ||||
Released | 8 November 2005 | |||
Recorded | 2005 | |||
Genre | Electronic rock, dance-rock | |||
Length | 3:39 | |||
Label | Maverick | |||
Writer(s) | Seal (lyrics & music) Guy Sigsworth (music) |
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Producer | Glen Ballard | |||
Alanis Morissette singles chronology | ||||
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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."[20] 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."[21]
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.[22] 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.
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)
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.[23] 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.
Brazilian Digital Single (UOL Megastore)
Maxi Single
"Crazy" (Claude Le Gache Club Mix) (Edit) |
"Crazy" (EddieEdit) Baez Coo Coo Club Mix) |
"Crazy" (Monk Mix Of Meds) (Edit) |
"Crazy" (Interstate Mix) (Edit) |
Single
"Crazy" (James Michael Mix)
Chart (2005) | Peak position |
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Canada Top 50 Singles[24] | 29 |
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[22] | 4 |
U.S. Billboard Pop 100[25][26] | 95 |
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40[26] | 10 |
Italy Top 50 Singles[24] | 3 |
Austria Top 75 Singles[24] | 20 |
Czech republic Singles Chart[27] | 22 |
Switzerland Top 100 Singles[24] | 31 |
Germany Top 100 Singles[24] | 38 |
Sweden Top 60 Singles[24] | 57 |
UK Top 75 Singles[24] | 65 |
Chart (2006) | Peak position |
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[25][26] | 6 |
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"Crazy" is a song by Australian recording artist Ricki-Lee Coulter, taken from her third studio album Fear & Freedom (2012). It was written by Coulter, Brian London and Johnny Jam, while the production was also handled by the latter two. The song was released digitally on 13 July 2012, as the third single from the album.
Lyrically, Coulter stated that "Crazy" is about "encouraging you [to] let go of your inhibitions, go crazy and let the music take over". Following its release, "Crazy" peaked at number four on the ARIA Dance Chart and number 46 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The accompanying music video was directed by Melvin J. Montalban and filmed in the Callan Park Hospital for the Insane in Sydney. The video features Coulter playing three characters – a nurse, patient and psychologist.
"Crazy" was written by Ricki-Lee Coulter, Brian London and Johnny Jam, while the production was also handled by the latter two. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Coulter said she wrote the song "as if I was actually singing it directly to the people on the dance floor". She went on to describe it as "sensual and erotic, encouraging you let go of your inhibitions, go crazy and let the music take over". "Crazy" was released digitally on 13 July 2012. On 23 July 2012, it debuted at number 52 on the ARIA Singles Chart and number four on the ARIA Dance Chart. The following week, "Crazy" fell out of the top 100 of the ARIA Singles Chart. On 6 August 2012, the song re-entered the chart at number 46, where it peaked.
Because of You is the second studio album by American recording artist Ne-Yo, released on April 25, 2007 by Def Jam Recordings in the United States. It features guest contributions from rapper Jay-Z on "Crazy" and singer Jennifer Hudson on "Leaving Tonight". Because of You debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, selling over 250,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 74/100 from Metacritic. It won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
The album has drawn mainly positive reviews, with Entertainment Weekly magazine noting, "Indeed, the album is an unmistakable attempt to channel [Michael Jackson's early work such as "Off the Wall"]...and the effort often pays off beautifully...Ne-Yo's lithe falsetto puts the many others who've been labeled Jackson-esque to shame." PopMatters.com called the album "a masterpiece of a record" and praised the title track's blend of "upbeat modern-day funk tempo, beautifully melodic backdrop and love-sick (in a good way) vocals...[it's] the perfect lead single off an album that is filled with number-one hits".Slant Magazine also compared the album's sensual ballads to Janet Jackson.