Crazy (Seal song)

"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) and the British metal band Panic Cell.

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.

In the United Kingdom the song was released as the first single from the album Seal in November 1990 (see 1990 in music) and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in January 1991 and is Seal's biggest solo hit there. The single sold over 200,000 copies, thus earning a BPI Silver certification. It won Seal a number of awards including the 1992 Ivor Novello award for songwriting.

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. It reached the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top twenty on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart. 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.

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 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".

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.

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.

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 Fall Brawl.

Track listing

 * CD
 * 1) "Crazy" — 4:30
 * 2) "Crazy" (extended version) — 5:59
 * 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

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." 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."

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. 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)

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. 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 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.

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)
 * "Crazy" (William Orbit Mix)
 * "Crazy" (Mushroomhead Heavy metal tribute)

Singles
Brazilian Digital Single (UOL Megastore)

Maxi Single

Single