This, That, and the Other

It’s time for this year’s A to Z Blogging Challenge to get underway. My theme is classic rock songs. Each day during the month (except for the first four Sundays, I will post a classic rock song: a video from YouTube, along with a brief bit of background about the song and the recording artist(s).

My C song is “Crazy on You,” from the American rock band Heart from their 1975 debut studio album, Dreamboat Annie. It was released in March 1976 as the album’s third single in Canada and the album’s debut single in the United States. It reached the top 25 in Canada and the top 35 in the U.S. It is considered one of Heart’s signature songs as it is one of the most played tracks on classic rock radio stations in the U.S.

Heart’s lead singer Ann Wilson wrote the “Crazy On You” lyrics about finding solace from the stressful state of the world in the arms of her boyfriend, Heart guitarist Mike Fisher. She was in her mid-20s and didn’t see a bright future for her generation. At the time, the Vietnam War was still going on, crime was rising, and there were gas shortages.

But she was in love, so she made the song about Mike as a way of saying “thank God I have you.” The song turns sensual, with Wilson coming to the conclusion that all she can do in these seemingly apocalyptic times is go crazy on the man of her dreams.

The song opens with the acoustic guitar stylings of Nancy Wilson, Ann’s sister and bandmate. On the album track she plays for 45 seconds before Roger Fisher’s electric guitar blasts in. But she goes on quite a bit longer in their live performances. Nancy said how the instrumentation was inspired by a classic Moody Blues tune. “We were listening to a lot of Moody Blues back then. There was a song called Question that had this fast, fiery guitar rhythm. That was our idea for the groove. Then Roger Fisher came up with the really cool riff that gave it some more beautiful momentum.”

Here are the lyrics to “Crazy on You.”

If we still have time, we might still get by
Every time I think about it, I wanna cry
With bombs and the Devil, and the kids keep comin'
No way to breathe easy, no time to be young

But I tell myself that I was doin' all right
There's nothin' left to do at night
But go crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you, oh

My love is the evenin' breeze touchin' your skin
The gentle, sweet singin' of leaves in the wind
The whisper that calls after you in the night
And kisses your ear in the early moonlight
And you don't need to wonder, you're doing fine
My love, the pleasure's mine

Let me go crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you, oh

Wild man's world is cryin' in pain
What you gonna do when everybody's insane?
So afraid of one who's so afraid of you
What you gonna do?

(Ah, ah, ah, ah)

Ooh, crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you

I was a willow last night in a dream
I bent down over a clear running stream
Sang you the song that I heard up above
And you kept me alive with your sweet flowing love

Crazy
Yeah, crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you, oh
Crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you, yeah

(Ah, ah, ah, ah)

Crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you, oh

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Previous 2023 A to Z posts:

A B