"Let's Go Crazy" is a 1984 song by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and The Revolution, from the album '' Purple Rain''. It is the opening track on both the album and the film '' Purple Rain''. "Let's Go Crazy" was one of Prince's most popular songs, and was a staple for concert performances, often segueing into other hits. When released as a single, the song became Prince's second number-one hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and also topped the two component charts, the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

charts, as well as becoming a UK Top 10 hit. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

was the lyrically controversial " Erotic City". In the UK, the song was released as a double A-side with " Take Me with U". Common to much of Prince's writing, the song is thought to be exhortation to follow Christian ethics, with the "De-elevator" of the lyrics being a metaphor for the Devil. The extended "Special Dance Mix" of the song was performed in a slightly edited version in the film ''Purple Rain''. It contains a longer instrumental section in the middle that includes a chugging guitar riff, an atonal piano solo and some muddled samples of the spoken word intro. This version was originally going to be used on the album but when "Take Me With U" was added to the track list, it was edited down to its current length. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is 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 the song "one of the finest fusions of jump rock and synth pump." Following Prince's death, the song re-charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart at number 39 and rose to number 25 by the week of May 14, 2016. As of April 30, 2016, it has sold 964,403 digital copies in the United States. In 2013, British rock band The Darkness performed the song at the 44th Annual Rock Music Awards.

Musical style

The song was also notable for opening with a funeral-like

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

solo with Prince giving the "eulogy" for "this thing called life." The introduction's words are overlapped with each other on the single version. The song climaxes with a distinctive

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

pattern and then features a heavy

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

lead, electronic drums,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and whirring

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and a climatic drum outro. The song's percussion was programmed with a

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

drum machine, an instrument frequently used in many of Prince's songs. The song is also known for its two guitar solos both performed by Prince.

Track listing

7" Warner Bros. / 7-29216 (US) # "Let's Go Crazy" (edit) – 3:46 # " Erotic City" (edit) – 3:53 7" Warner Bros. / W2000 (UK) # "Let's Go Crazy" (edit) – 3:46 # " Take Me with U" – 3:51 12" Warner Bros. / 0-20246 (US) # "Let's Go Crazy" (Special Dance Mix) – 7:35 # "Erotic City ("make love not war Erotic City come alive")" – 7:24 12" Warner Bros. / W2000T (UK) # "Let's Go Crazy" (Special Dance Mix) – 7:35 # "Take Me with U" – 3:51 # "Erotic City ("make love not war Erotic City come alive")" – 7:24

Personnel

Credits are sourced from Duane Tudahl, Benoît Clerc, Guitarcloud and Mix. *

– lead and backing vocals, electric lead guitar,

* Wendy Melvoin – electric rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Lisa Coleman – Oberheim OB-SX, backing vocals * Matt Fink – Oberheim OB-Xa, backing vocals * Brown Mark – bass guitar, backing vocals * Bobby Z. – Linn LM-1,

Simmons SDS-V The Simmons SDS 5, SDSV, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer (notated as ''SDS-V'' on the following) was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, manufactured initially by M ...

, Pearl SY-1 Syncussion, cymbals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Lenz v. Universal

In 2007, Stephanie Lenz, a writer and editor from Gallitzin, Pennsylvania made a home video of her 13-month-old son dancing to "Let's Go Crazy" and posted a 29-second video on the video-sharing site

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Four months after the video was originally uploaded,

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, which owned the copyrights to the song, ordered YouTube to remove the video enforcing the

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...

. Lenz notified YouTube immediately that her video was within the scope of fair use, and demanded that it be restored. YouTube complied after six weeks—not two weeks, as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act—to see whether Universal planned to sue Lenz for infringement. Lenz then sued Universal Music in California for her legal costs, claiming the music company had acted in bad faith by ordering removal of a video that represented fair use of the song. Later in August 2008, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, of

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, ruled that copyright holders cannot order a deletion of an online file without determining whether that posting reflected "fair use" of the copyrighted material. In 2015 the court affirmed the holding that Universal was required to consider fair use before sending its initial takedown request.

References

* Uptown: ''The Vault – The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince'': Nilsen Publishing 2004, {{authority control 1984 singles Prince (musician) songs Songs written by Prince (musician) Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Funk rock songs Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) 1984 songs Songs written for films