Many people are starting to rethink using the word “Crazy,” or stop using it entirely. This is admirable but will certainly make it difficult to sing along with some of the greatest rock and pop songs of all time. “Crazy” is used in popular music all the time — maybe not as often as “Baby” or “Love” — but it’s a lot, much like “Dirt Road” in contemporary country music or “Rock” in AC/DC’s songs. Just off the top of my head there’s “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé feat. Jay Z, “Crazy on You” by Heart, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen, “(You Drive Me) Crazy” by Britney Spears, and “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osborne. The list goes on.

Then there’s the wide array of songs that trim the fat in their titles, and are simply “Crazy.” There’s so many, and today we’re comparing three of the most iconic.

Let’s start with the newest of our three “Crazy” songs: the signature song of Gnarls Barkley, the bizarrely-named psychedelic soul power duo made up of singer-songwriter/occasional golden statue/incredibly problematic CeeLo Green and human producer Danger Mouse.

This “Crazy” is written by the two pseudonymous bandmates, but writing credits are also given to two different men named Gian, who composed the soundtrack of a Spaghetti Western called Django, Prepare a Coffin, which was sampled for the song. The two Gians are also brothers, sort of like an Italian Pete and Pete situation. (Talk about “Crazy”!)

Gnarls’ “Crazy” earns points for being one of the few massive radio hits I can remember from its era that actually sounded cool. While edgeless pop punk, sappy piano rock, and kitschy hip-hop dominated the charts in the mid-early-oughts (or was it the early-mid-oughts?), “Crazy” separated itself as uniquely funky, soulful, and eerie. It was a standout song of 2006. Compared to the year’s other massive hits like “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt, “London Bridge” by Fergie, or Billboard Song of the Year “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter, it remains one of the few that isn’t a complete eye-roller.

Also, Gnarls’ song has been covered by Violent Femmes and Kacey Musgraves (to name a few) in completely different styles, which indicates not only the song’s versatility and appeal across genres, but also — once again — its coolness.

Jumping almost half a century earlier, 1961’s “Crazy” by Patsy Cline was written by a young and struggling, but clearly brilliant Willie Nelson. The entire song barely tops a mere 90 words, and more than a tenth of them are the word “crazy.” It’s a masterful example of poetic word economy and use of repetition for emphasis. And Patsy’s voice, convincingly full of yearning, delivers the lyrics perfectly. This “Crazy” has been covered by countless people, including its original songwriter, but even Willie admits that his favorite version remains the one by Patsy.

And for what it’s worth, “Crazy” didn’t sound like most country music back then (or now, for that matter). In fact, Willie said he had a hard time finding an established artist to record his wistful weeper because of its use of several chords, instead of the standard three chords used in roughly 98% of all country music. The unconventional key-changing and use of jazz chords paid off, as it would be a crossover hit for Patsy Cline, and has also received the rare privilege of being compared to an Aerosmith song from the early 90’s.

Speaking of…the Aerosmith “Crazy” is not going to trump the other two songs here, let’s not have any illusions about this. I will admit that it is probably the best song from their very successful 1993 album Get A Grip — it’s better than the too-long, Bon Jovi-esque “Livin’ on the Edge,” it’s better than the surprisingly anti-capitalist “Eat the Rich,” and it’s even better than its fraternal twin, “Cryin’.” And while it’s impressive that a rock band in their third decade seemed bigger and more relevant than ever (their “Crazy” even won a Grammy in 1994), it just doesn’t hold a candle to the other two songs we’re discussing. This could be because bluesy glam-rock ballads don’t hold up as well in 2023, it could be because it’s from an album that features a close up of a cow’s udder with a nipple ring piercing, it could be because in the lyrics Steven Tyler demands that a girl stop being “crazy”, or it could be that the music video has only gotten creepier over time.

If you’re of a certain age, you remember this video. Either because it was one of MTV’s most requested videos of 1994, or because it was often recounted on VH1’s various nostalgic talking heads shows in the 2000’s.

Famously, “Crazy” was Aerosmith’s third video to feature 18-year-old actress Alicia Silverstone (the appearances would help her be cast as the star of Clueless the following year) and it was their first video to feature the 16-year-old daughter of Steven Tyler. What? Yep. (And Liv Tyler had only met her famous father for the first time around five years earlier, but that’s not really relevant I guess.) What we’ve been taught by all other big-haired rock videos, like “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake or “Cherry Pie” by Warrant, is that if there is a lady in the video, the singer himself thinks that lady is really sexy. And in this video, one of the sexy ladies is the teenaged biological daughter of the singer. So, yeah. If it wasn’t weird then, it’s definitely weird now.

But what Patsy’s and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” lacks in Alicia Silverstone it more than makes up for in timelessness and earworminess, respectively. It’s hard to give one the edge over the other without factoring in your mood at the moment. If you are feeling lonely, brokenhearted, or out of place, Patsy’s would win out; if you are feeling energetic, antsy, or paranoid, Gnarls Barkley’s would win out. With two great songs such as this, there’s hardly an objective way to choose a favorite. But there’s one thematic metric we could apply that might help: which song is crazier?

Well, by that measure it’s gotta go to Gnarls Barkley. Musically and lyrically, the song is more intense, frantic, and unpredictable. Musically, the dynamics are always shifting between light and dark, and between new and old. It’s hard to get a grasp on the song’s sound, but it’s fun and a little scary. The Gnarls Barkley music video for “Crazy” is even perfectly on theme, featuring animated Rorschach tests morphing between a singing CeeLo and various creepy crawlers. 

Patsy’s incredible delivery matches the sentiment of her song, there’s no doubt, but CeeLo sounds, if I may say, “Crazy.

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