Crazy

"Crazy" started life as a simple Willie Nelson demo, bluesy and simply strummed by the singer/songwriter. But once it was covered by Patsy Cline, the tune was transformed into country's first truly elegant uptown ballad. It isn't just the Nashville production sheen that producer Owen Bradley put to it with the Jordanaires oohing and aahing in the background with Floyd Cramer's patented slip finger piano filling in the cracks. Cline's reading of the lyric is filled with an aching world weariness that transforms the tune into one of the first big crossover hits without even trying hard. The song is one of those indestructible classics, a song so simple in its construction that it could be sung by anyone from Reba McIntire to Elmer Fudd ("cwazy, cwazy fo' feewin' so wonely") and still sound recognizable as real country with a message that crosses both boundaries and demographics.