"Crazy Love" is a romantic

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

and included on his 1970 album, ''

Moondance ''Moondance'' is the third studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 27 January 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. After the commercial failure of his first Warner Bros. album '' Astral Weeks'' (1968), Morr ...

''. The song was originally released as 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 ...

to " Come Running" in May 1970 before it was released as a single in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, "Come Running" as the B-side. The cover of the single shows Morrison with his then-wife, Janet "Planet" Rigsbee. The photograph was taken by Elliot Landy, the official photographer of the 1969

Woodstock festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

Duets with Van Morrison

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

introduced Van Morrison by starting the first verse before Van's appearance when he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2003. Morrison and Charles then finished with a duet of "Crazy Love". Ray Charles remarked about this performance: "It meant a lot to sing 'Crazy Love' on stage that evening." ''

Genius Loves Company ''Genius Loves Company'' is the sixty-second and final studio album by rhythm and blues and soul musician Ray Charles, posthumously released August 31, 2004, on Concord Records. Billboard.com: Discography – Ray Charles – Genius Loves Comp ...

'', Ray Charles' 2004 album, includes this duet featuring the two singers. Van Morrison and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

sang a duet of "Crazy Love" on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

film, ''One Irish Rover'' in 1991.

Reception

"Crazy Love" was listed as No. 198 on the All Time 885 Greatest Songs compiled in 2004 by

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format sh ...

from listener's votes.

Other releases

The duet featuring

and Van Morrison as performed at the 2003 SHOF awards is one of the 31 songs on the compilation album ''

The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 ''The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3'' is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison released on 11 June 2007 in the UK with a digital version released in the U.S. on iTunes Store on 12 June 2007. Manhattan/EMI Music Ca ...

'' released in 2007. The original version from ''

'' is one of the hits included on the 2007 compilation album, ''

Still on Top - The Greatest Hits A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been u ...

''.

Notable cover versions

"Crazy Love" has been performed by many artists. Versions by Brian Kennedy,

Aaron Neville Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer renowned for his distinctively smooth, vibrato-heavy tenor and a genre-crossing career that spans R&B, soul, gospel, jazz, country, and pop. He gained national prominence with hi ...

and

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal Robertson (July 5, 1943 – August 9, 2023) was a Canadian musician of Indigenous and Jewish ancestry. He was the lead guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band in the mid-late 1960s and early-mid 1970s. Robertson was also the ...

were featured in films.

Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a show business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on ra ...

had considerable chart success with the song as she scored her first

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

''Billboard'' Top 10 hit with her cover version released in July 1971. The highest charting version of “Crazy Love” came in 1995 from R&B singer

Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...

, whose cover was a Top 10 hit on Billboard’s

R&B Chart 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 peaked at #45 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...

recorded a cover version for the "She's Having A Baby" soundtrack. It's also on his compilation album "Slave to Love: Best of the Ballads".

Personnel

– vocals *John Klingberg – bass guitar * Jeff Labes – piano *

Gary Mallaber Gary Mallaber (born October 11, 1946, in Buffalo) is an American musician from Los Angeles, mostly known as a drummer, but plays percussion, vibraphone, and keyboards. In addition, he is a songwriter, arranger, composer, producer, engineer, a ...

– drums,

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

* John Platania – guitar * Judy Clay –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

* Emily Houston – background vocals *

Jackie Verdell Jackie Verdell (November 5, 1937 – August 3, 1991) was an American gospel singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Musical career After leaving high school, she joined The Davis Sisters in 1955, at the start of their tenure ...

– background vocals

Certifications

Michael Bublé version

"Crazy Love" was later covered by Canadian singer

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...

, and released as the fourth single from his fourth studio album, '' Crazy Love'' (2009). The single was released on 29 June 2010, accompanied by a number of bonus tracks and mixes from the album.

Background

The single was released on 16 May 2010, accompanied by the bonus tracks "Pennies from Heaven", originally an iTunes Store bonus track on ''Crazy Love'', "Relax Max", featuring

Naturally 7 Naturally 7 is an American music group with a distinct a cappella style they call "vocal play," which, according to group leader Roger Thomas, is "the art of becoming an instrument using the human voice to create the sound." They simulate the so ...

, an

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

exclusive bonus track on ''Crazy Love'', and an instrumental version of "Haven't Met You Yet". The release was accompanied by a music video for the track, again directed by Rich Lee. The video premiered on YouTube on 1 May 2010.

Track listing

* Digital download # "Crazy Love" – 3:31 # "Pennies from Heaven" – 3:15 # "Relax Max" (featuring

) – 3:29 # "Haven't Met You Yet" (Instrumental) – 4:05 * Promotional CD single
# "Crazy Love" (Edit) – 3:08 ''moweddatum''

Charts

Certifications

Notes

References

*DeWitt, Howard A. (1983). ''Van Morrison: The Mystic's Music'', Horizon Books,

External links

* * Allmusic review: Crazy Love {{authority control 1969 songs 1970 singles Van Morrison songs Male vocal duets Helen Reddy songs Songs written by Van Morrison Steve Harley songs Soul ballads Song recordings produced by Lewis Merenstein Song recordings produced by Van Morrison Warner Records singles 143 Records singles Reprise Records singles