"Somewhere Down the Crazy River" is a 1987 song by

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...

, initially released on Robertson's debut solo album ''

'', with

Sam Llanas Samuel J. Llanas (born 1961) is an American singer, acoustic guitarist, and songwriter in several rock and roots rock bands active from the 1980s to the 2000s, including BoDeans and Absinthe. Career Llanas was one of the founding members of th ...

on backing vocals.

Background

When one of the producers, Daniel Lanois, was asked about the inspiration for "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", he said that the song was "kind of like a guy with a deep voice telling you about steaming nights in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

". He went on to say that Robertson was describing his experiences of hanging out in his old neighbourhood of

with

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

(fellow The Band member) during hot nights in which they were "fishing with dynamite" and had asked a local for directions to "somewhere down the crazy river". In terms of composition, the song features a "sweet and wonderful" chord sequence on the Suzuki

Omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...

, which had been introduced to Lanois by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

. As Robertson developed the chord sequence, Lanois surreptitiously recorded him and superimposed his storytelling on top. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it a "masterful cut" that "generates a powerful vision of steamy life in a more primitive phase, on a river from soul of Louisiana, or the Nile, or the mortal soul" and is "done with spoken word and a chant-like vocal and poetic lyrics that speak with a novelist's tongue and the heart of Huckleberry."

Music video

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

directed a music video for the song, his second after directing the

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Video for

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being * Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored troll ...

featuring

Maria McKee Maria Luisa McKee (born August 17, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice, her 1990 song "Show Me Heaven", and her song "If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)" from the film ''Pulp Fiction''. ...

and

(credited as Sammy BoDean). Steve Spears of Tampa Bay Times notes in his review for it that "things get pretty steamy near the end of the video for Robertson and McKee as the two seem to take method acting seriously".

Reception

The song was subject to mixed reviews by critics. Steve Spears of Tampa Bay Times called the song "sexy", whereas Mark Deming of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that Robertson was "exploring the same iconography of the Band's best work, but without the same grace or subtle wit".

Chart performance

It reached No. 15 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, No. 24 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

and won Robertson and

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...

the Canadian Producer of the Year Award for 1989. In Robertson's home country Canada, it debuted at No. 95 on the week ending 2 April 1988 and then peaked at No. 91 for two weeks until the week ending 16 April 1988.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

– vocals, backing vocals, spoken words, guitar, keyboards *

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusion ...

– drums * Bill Dillon – guitars *

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 198 ...

– bass Additional personnel * Sammy BoDean – backing vocal

Use in media

*The song also appeared in the 1988 compilation album ''

The Hits Album 9 ''The Hits Album'' is a compilation album released by BMG, CBS and WEA in December 1988 and is the ninth volume of the long-running '' Hits'' compilation series. It charted on December 17, 1988 on the UK Top 100 Album chart. Possibly in response ...

''.

References

{{Authority control 1989 singles Robbie Robertson songs Songs written by Robbie Robertson 1987 songs Geffen Records singles Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois Music videos directed by Martin Scorsese Song recordings produced by Robbie Robertson