Annotated Songs: People Are Crazy
A deeper dive into one of my songs
It was not until I wrote, recorded, and released my song “People Are Crazy” that I learned it was not an original song title.1
In 2009, Billy Currington hit the top of the U.S. Country Chart with his song, “People Are Crazy.”
Currington’s song has less to do with people being crazy and more to do with life’s inevitabilities.
My “People Are Crazy” was derived out of human insanity. We’re all so similar and yet, it’s so difficult to see eye to eye on so many things.2
The song began as a piano riff that included a diminished chord. For those of you who understand music theory, a diminished chord is fairly unusual in modern pop/country/rock music.3
As I began to work out the melody and lyrics, I became concerned that I’d never be able to recreate the song in a live setting because diminished chord fingerings on the guitar are quite difficult. But I really loved the momentum of the chords so, as a compromise, I created a bass line that used the root notes.
As you listen to the 7 second intro of the song you can hear the subtle bass line underneath the guitar chords. It plays through twice before I sing and continues during the verses.
I finished the lyrics over a period of time. When it was complete I realized something else I needed to change - the key signature. Initially the song was written in C Major but I had figured out it was too high for me to sing comfortably.4
After testing out different options, I settled on G Major.5
When it came time for the instrumental break/solo section, a flute was the first and only thing I ever considered. While it’s not actually a real flute and simply a keyboard, my personal belief is the sound fits the mood of the song perfectly. But maybe I’m biased.
You might ask, where did the idea for a flute solo come from, Brad?
Elvis’ version of Mickey Newbury’s “American Trilogy” made it’s way to millions of homes via satellite in 1973 with the broadcast of his Aloha From Hawaii live show. (Fast fwd to the 2:50 mark to watch and listen to the flute solo performed by the late Gabe Baltazar.)6
Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like my flute solo is a wonderful tribute to this one. Looking back, I wish I had used the footage of Baltazar in my music video instead of stock footage. Oh well.
People Are Crazy
It's hard to live your life when you find out
People are crazy
The entire human race might be insane7
Don't do this
Don't say that
You're better off shutting up and standing back
Stay inside your world you'll feel no pain8
It’s hard to live your life once you’ve found out
People are crazy
But then again maybe I’m crazy too9
Don’t do this
Don’t say that
Why you wanna look like a psychopath
Not your monkeys and it's not your zoo10
Everybody thinks they're free
But we're full of hypersensitivity11
It’s hard to live your life when people
Think you’re crazy
When you’re unhinged everyone knows your name12
Say what you mean
Mean what you say
You can’t go ‘round living life that way
The only thing you'll wind up with is shame13
An abscess that’s beyond healing14
And we're all full of hypocrisy
Where have all the good ones gone
Everyone left here seems withdrawn15
Some people tell me it’s taboo16
It's better if you act like you've no clue
It's hard to keep a good man down17
When you think he’s weak he’s really strong18
Everything we think we know’s untrue
Life on Earth is strange voodoo19
It’s hard to end your life
When people still think you’re crazy20
In closing, I’ll leave you with what my long-time collaborator and bandmate, Jay, had to say about “People Are Crazy”:
“This song is an exercise in artistic patience. This is what it means to let music breath! This what "less is more" means, and what it means when you say that it's as much about what you don't play, as what you do play. Great impact in the patient approach here.”
I have since learned from my good songwriter friend, James Tristan Redding, that it’s a good idea to do a quick search on a music publishing website to find out how popular your potential song title already is.
This song was written long before the politics of Covid turned the planet upside down.
You’ll find diminished and augmented chords far more often in jazz music.
This happens more and more as I’ve gotten older. These days I’m cognizant of the fact that there’s nothing wrong with working out the key to match your voice. If you’re the writer and the singer, you are not married to the key just because it’s what you wrote it with. This obvious important factor is something I wish I had learned earlier in life.
I had to change to key on my song “Sundays,” too. I believe those were the only 2 songs on the album I did that with. I remember reading in Don Felder’s book how the Eagles tried several different keys for “Hotel California” until Don Henley was satisfied with how it worked with his voice.
Baltazar passed away in June of 2022. He was 92 years old.
I was going through a difficult period in my life when this song began to take shape. It seemed like everyone I came in contact was on a completely different planet than I was, and that included nearly all of the people I was close to. And as I said earlier, it was written long before Covid so I don’t even have that to blame.
It seemed the only way to deal with this problem was to shut up and not react. I assumed this would keep me safe.
But if I keep to myself does that make me part of the problem? I certainly take a long hard look at myself in this song. It’s not just a total bitch session. I realized that if everyone else seems crazy to me, maybe the problem is me and not them.
This is an extension of what I said in Footnote 8. When you react too aggressively to people’s weirdness it can make you look like the whack job.
Most people are not self-aware. They think they are, but… pfft.
This verse flips the script to some paranoia. Are all eyes on you?
You can’t say what you feel because you will be made to feel bad.
This is one of those lines I had in my notes that happened to fit well here. Is the human race beyond healing?
The first chorus asks where all the good people are; most of the ones around are aloof and emotionless.
Does it seem to be taboo to speak your mind? It is better if you simply act like a clueless dumb dumb?
Admittedly, I borrowed this line from Billy Joel. I was working on finding some lyrics to a second chorus one day and it just sprang out of me. I tried to edit it slightly but it just fit so perfectly, so I kept it.
What are the defining qualities of mental strength? Do we have it backwards a lot of the time?
I think these last two lines say a lot. Especially nowadays in this post-covid, aliens-among-us world.
Is this a cry for help? Not necessarily. But it could be. What I love most about these final lyrics is that they are open for interpretation. Also, there is one softly spoken line during the outro. Can you make out what I say? Get out those earphones.