Heart lead singer Ann Wilson wrote the "Crazy On You" lyric about finding solace from the stressful state of the world in the arms of her boyfriend, Heart guitarist Mike Fisher (he eventually stopped performing and became their sound man). Ann was in her mid-20s and didn't see a bright future for her generation (sound familiar?). At the time, the Vietnam War was still going on, crime was rising, and there were gas shortages. She sings out her fears in the first verse: If we still have time, we might still get by Every time I think about it, I want to cry With bombs and the devil, and the kids keep comin' No way to breathe easy, no time to be young 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. She plays for 45 seconds before Roger Fisher's electric guitar blasts in (Roger is the brother of Mike Fisher, who inspired this song). Nancy Wilson recalled how the instrumentation was inspired by a classic Moody Blues tune. "I remember I had a bad flu and was kind of delirious," she said. "The lyric was so great that it kind of lifted me up in my sick bed. Two days later I was better, and we started to set it to music. 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 over A-minor to F, and that gave it some more beautiful momentum."
Lyrics
We may 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 coming
No way to breathe easy
No time to be young
But I tell myself that I'm doing alright
There's nothing left to do at night
But go crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you
My love is the evening breeze touching your skin
The gentle sweet singing of leaves in the wind
The whisper that calls after you in the night
And kisses your ear in the early light
And you don't need to wonder, you're doing fine
And my love, the pleasure's mine
Let me go crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you
Wild man's world is crying in pain
What you gonna do when everybody's insane?
So afraid of one who's so afraid of you
What you gonna do?
Crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you
I was a willow last night in my 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, crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you
Crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you
Crazy on you
Crazy on you
Let me go crazy, crazy on you
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