"The Closest Thing to Crazy" is the debut single of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

-born singer

Katie Melua Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi, Georgia and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of composer ...

. The song is featured on her first studio album, '' Call Off the Search'' (2003). The song was written as part of the musical ''Men Who March Away'', and appeared first in 1995 on

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Batt created the novelty pop band T ...

's album ''Arabesque''. The single was originally due out in January 2004 but was released a month early in an attempt by

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

to make it that year's Christmas number one in the United Kingdom; it stalled at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. However, owing to the success of the album reaching number one, the song climbed back into the top 20 during January and February and resulted in Melua's first nomination for the annual

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

prize on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

. At the end of 2004, due to its longevity on the UK chart, the song came in at number 77 on the year-end ranking, making it the lowest-charting song to finish within the top 100 for that year.

Composition and lyrics

The song is played in the key of

E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...

at a tempo of 64 beats per minute. The vocal range is G₃ to C₅. It has an irregular meter with a mix of , , and . The lyrics of the song take the form of a series of

rhetorical question A rhetorical question is a question asked for a purpose other than to obtain information. In many cases it may be intended to start a discourse, as a means of displaying or emphasizing the speaker's or author's opinion on a topic. A simple example ...

s, describing the contradictory emotions of being in love. It appears that the object of the singer's love treats the singer unkindly, and may not return the emotion.

Track listings

UK CD single 1 # "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (

) # "Faraway Voice" (

) # " I Think It's Going to Rain" (

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

) UK CD single 2 # "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (Batt) # "Downstairs to the Sun" (Melua) # "Thank You, Stars" (Batt) # "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (video) European CD single # "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (Batt) # "Downstairs to the Sun" (Melua) # "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (video) Australian CD single # "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (Batt) # "Downstairs to the Sun" (Melua) # "Thank You, Stars" (Batt)

Personnel

* Katie Melua –

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 ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Mike Batt –

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 ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, conductor *

Jim Cregan James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her a ...

– guitar * Tim Harries –

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 ...

* Irish Film Orchestra – orchestra * Michael Kruk –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Alan Smale – leader *

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of th ...

– guitar *

Henry Spinetti Enrico Antonio Giorgio Spinetti (born 31 March 1951) is a Welsh session drummer whose playing has featured on many prominent rock and pop albums. Career Spinetti was born in Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, Wales.) His first band, aged abou ...

– drums * Mike Batt – producer * Steve Sale – engineer * Mike Batt – arranger

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Katie Melua website

New Music: Katie Melua
(BBC News) {{DEFAULTSORT:Closest Thing to Crazy, The 2003 songs 2003 debut singles Katie Melua songs Song recordings produced by Mike Batt Songs written by Mike Batt Dramatico singles UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles 2000s ballads