"Crazy on You" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

from their debut studio album, ''

Dreamboat Annie ''Dreamboat Annie'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Heart. At the time, the band was based in Vancouver, British Columbia; the album was recorded in Vancouver and first released in Canada by the local label Mushroom Records in S ...

'' (1975). 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 US. It found more success in the Netherlands and Belgium where it peaked at number 2 and 13, respectively, in early 1977 after its release as the second single from ''Dreamboat Annie'' in those countries. 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 US.

Description

Starting with an acoustic guitar intro called "Silver Wheels", the song turns into a fast-paced rock song that was the band's signature sound in their early years. "Crazy on You" attracted attention both for the relatively unusual combination of an acoustic guitar paired with electric guitars and the fact that the acoustic guitarist was a woman – a rarity in rock music during that time. According to co-writer and guitarist Nancy Wilson, who discussed it on an episode of the radio program ''

In the Studio with Redbeard ''In the Studio with Redbeard'' is a North American radio program, produced and hosted by Dallas, Texas, based rock and roll disc jockey Doug "Redbeard" Hill. The show is a weekly hour-long "rockumentary" interview with music program which looks ...

'' that devoted an entire episode to the ''Dreamboat Annie'' album, the rapid acoustic rhythm part was inspired by

The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The g ...

's 1970 song "

Question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interroga ...

". The guitar riff was created by Roger Fisher during recording sessions. The song's lyrics tell of a person's desire to forget all the problems of the world during one night of passion. During an interview on the television series ''

Private Sessions ''Private Sessions'' is a 2007 television series produced by the A&E Network featuring top entertainers interviewed by host Lynn Hoffman. Most guests are musicians that perform several of their songs during the hour-long episode, but actors also h ...

'' in 2007,

Ann Wilson Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...

revealed the song was written in response to the stress caused by the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and social unrest in the United States in the early 1970s. The song was written while the band members were living in a small

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cottage in

Point Roberts, Washington Point Roberts is a pene-exclave of Washington on the southernmost tip of the Tsawwassen peninsula, south of Vancouver, Canada. The area, which had a population of 1,191 at the 2020 census, is reached by land from the rest of the United States ...

, situated on the Canada–United States border.

Release

Released in both Canada and the US in March 1976, "Crazy on You" peaked at number 25 on ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

''s Top Singles chart in Canada in May of that year and at number 35 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 the following month. It remains one of Heart's signature songs and is still a staple on North American

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

radio stations. The track received heavy airplay on FM Album-Oriented Rock stations, which drove sales of the parent album. Chicago-based radio station

WLS-AM WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Driv ...

, a current hit radio station where the song received heavy airplay, ranked "Crazy on You" as the 30th biggest song of 1976. It reached number three on the station's survey of August 7, 1976. After the success of "Crazy on You", "Magic Man" was released in the US and re-released in Canada, particularly in parts of Canada where it had not received much radio airplay before. In the Netherlands, "Crazy on You" was released in February 1977 as the second single off ''Dreamboat Annie'' after "Magic Man" and rose to number 2 and 4 on the two charts in the country. It also ascended to number 13 in neighboring Belgium. The single's original B-side, "

", was released on its own as an A-side in December 1976. The shortest version of "Dreamboat Annie" directly precedes "Crazy on You" on the original album and with little gap between the songs first-time listeners often think they are one continual epic song. Mushroom Records re-released "Crazy on You" in late 1977 in both the US and Canada with the same catalog number and B-side. In February 1978, the re-release reached number 62 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 68 on ''RPM''s Top Singles chart. In 2013, the original lineup of the band performed the song for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first performance together in over 30 years. The current lineup of the band performed "

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In popular culture

The song is prominently featured during pivotal scenes in

Jean-Marc Vallée Jean-Marc Vallée (March 9, 1963December 25, 2021) was a Canadian filmmaker, film editor, and screenwriter. After studying film at the Université de Montréal, Vallée went on to make a number of critically acclaimed short films, including '' ...

's 2015 film '' Demolition'' starring

Jake Gyllenhaal Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (; ; born December 19, 1980) is an American actor. Born into the Gyllenhaal family, he is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and his older sister is actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He ...

and

Naomi Watts Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...

. It was also featured in the films ''

American Pop ''American Pop'' is a 1981 American adult animated jukebox musical drama film starring Ron Thompson and produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. It was the fourth animated feature film to be presented in Dolby sound. The film tells the story of f ...

'' (1981), ''

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'' (1999), ''

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle ''Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle'' (released in some international markets as ''Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies'') is a 2004 American buddy stoner comedy film directed by Danny Leiner, written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and star ...

'' (2004) and '' Captain Marvel'' (2019). A cover of the song is also included in the video game ''

Guitar Hero 2 ''Guitar Hero II'' is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 and Activision for the Xbox 360. It is the second main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series and is the sequel to 2005's ...

'' as a playable track, and the master recording is included in ''

Rock Band 4 ''Rock Band 4'' is a 2015 music video game developed and published by Harmonix. ''Rock Band 4'' allows players to simulate the playing of music across many different decades and genres using instrument controllers that mimic playing lead and bas ...

'' as paid

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...

. The song was also featured in the ''

Close Enough ''Close Enough'' is an American animated sitcom created by J. G. Quintel. Originally intended to air on TBS in 2017, the project faced various delays and setbacks before eventually premiering on HBO Max on July 9, 2020. The series has received ...

'' episode "Room Parents" and in '' Fargo (TV series)'' season 3 ep 1 "Law of vacant places". The song was featured in episode 5 of the Telltale game Guardians of the Galaxy.

Personnel

Adapted from the liner notes of ''

''. *

– lead vocals, flute, backing vocals * Nancy Wilson – acoustic guitar, backing vocals * Roger Fisher – electric guitar *

Howard Leese Howard M. Leese (born June 13, 1951, in Hollywood, California, United States) is an American guitarist, record producer, and musical director who played with Heart as guitarist and keyboardist for 23 years (1975 through 1998). He continues to rec ...

– electric guitar *

Steve Fossen Steve Fossen is an American bassist and a founding member of the band Heart.

– bass * Kat Hendrikse – drums * Rob Deans – synthesizer * Geoff Foubert – backing vocals * Tessie Bensussen – backing vocals * Jim Hill – backing vocals *

Mike Flicker Mike Flicker (born 1950) is an American music producer in Los Angeles who has numerous credits on music and film projects. He is critically acclaimed for his work with Heart.1976 singles 1976 songs Heart (band) songs Mushroom Records singles Songs of the Vietnam War Songs written by Ann Wilson Songs written by Nancy Wilson (rock musician) Song recordings produced by Mike Flicker