Music Notes

Crazy (1R cover)

My sixteenth track is a cover, by OneRepublic, of the 2006 Gnarls Barkley song Crazy. They played it several times over the years; the best one is from the Zermatt Unplugged show in 2011. Here you can see Brent Kutzle on the cello and hear some of Ryan Tedder's unique and mind-blowing melisma, along with an acoustic guitar solo by Zach Filkins.

I remember I never paid much attention to the original, until I watched 1R covering it. The one I saw was probably from a TV show, because Ryan was talking about it before he launched into it, and he said how much he wishes he'd written it himself. The lyrics do have that whimsical, mysterious quality of his earliest songwriting; in fact, Ryan loves the phrase "bless your soul" and has used it in his own work for 1R and others.

After knowing how much Ryan likes Crazy, it always makes me smile when I hear the original. I also smile because it's the only song I've ever heard from the artist who goes by that funny name, Gnarls Barkley.

Having to choose six covers for Jeff's "Resurrection Jukebox"  led me back to this piece, which I really hadn't thought about in years. I'm glad I did, because I loved watching the entire Zermatt Unplugged show years ago, added each track to its respective Genius page, and I didn't even know this was part of the performance. Did you catch the lit candles lined up on the piano? Or Ryan's youthful exuberance and high spirits? What fun.

Words: 263.