Gnarls Barkley: Crazy Meaning
Song Released: 2006
Crazy Lyrics
There was something so pleasant about that place.
Even your emotions have an echo
in so much space
And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't...
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Another interpretation for the song Crazy with a war theme is that a veteran is looking back on the days when he was in the war, and he realized it was not worth it. The setting of the battlefields made him lose his mind. He might have lost a friend in the war, and maybe he was wounded both mentally and physically. It's really sad. THe song could be a warning to a future generation about war.
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I do not think that this song is about drugs. I think this song is about war. When i heard this song, I could imagine a scene of war when a soldier was looking around and realizing jusy how bad war is. At first, he wanted to be like his heroes and defend his country. he wanted to be considered brave and heroic. But when he got in the war and he saw death all around him, he realized he was wrong. Civilians think that war is a game and they don't take it seroiusly. A soldier would think the same thing before he started fighting in the war. But when he realizes exactly what he's doing is killing men and watching men get killed, he thinks that the world is crazy. He was crazy for going to fight.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Okay this Is really the meaningso disregard the rest of this page.
Cee-lo said somewhere that he wrote the song after a discussion with dangermouse about how people almost have to think youre crazy to give you credence as an artist. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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If you dont think this song it about drugs then you are the crazy one... where do u go to feel a emotional echo? if its not a psychedelic, what is it?
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yeah it sounds like acid to me, known a couple guys do to much. they think they are a god (if not more powerful) they can pull powers from ppl items the earth the heavens, ect
"I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind" (you do lose your mind if you do to many psychedelics)
"Yeah, I was out of touch (common sense, no one could stop him)
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much" (god like ability)
"Come on now, who do you...think you are? (he is more powerful then anyone, more stable minded)
Ha Ha Ha, bless your soul (god ^^)
You really think you're in control?" (you can talk to ppl who do acid and they all question reality)
"Ever since I was little...oh it looked like fun
And its no concidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done" (just says he knows this is harming him but he is stronger)
the name "crazy" is cuz when u fry your mind from acid you act crazy (you dont see it yourself) but you carry around "trinkets" (most of the times trash) you act unstable (if you know someone before they do alot of acid you can see the changes)
i think this song is all about psychedelics;hallucinogens -
I'm pretty sure that this song is at least partly about taking LSD or a similar drug.
"I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind"
When you take LSD you effectively do lose your mind for a number of hours
"There was something so pleasant about that place"
It is quite pleasant (or it can be)
"Even your emotions had an echo, In so much space"
This line here is the give away. Anyone who has taken LSD will know what I mean when I say that this describes the effect of LSD quite well. You might not appreciate this if you haven't had LSD before, but it is VERY hard to describe what its like, and this line does so. This would be a strange coincidence if it was describing something else considering the rest of the song fits with the LSD interpretation as well.
"And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch"
Self explanatory.
"But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much"
This is another line you might not quite be able to understand if you haven't had LSD. One of the strange things about LSD is that it gives you new (and possibly completely wrong and crazy) insights. It lets you think about concepts and aspects of the world from different and strange angles. You can often realize things about reality that most people don't. This can put you out of touch with most people, like the song says, because of something you do know, not because of something you don't.
"Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Possibly [radio version]
probably [album version]"
Self explanitory
"And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice
come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are,
Ha ha ha bless your soul
You really think you're in control"
This verse is basically a 'your playing with fire' style warning about LSD.
"My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I want to be like them
Ever since I was little, ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done"
This verse is dealing with the idea of following in the footsteps of a perceived role model. This is a common concept with drug use. The role models he is referring to are most likely musicians at the time of his youth. -
Here is an excerpt from a NY Times interview with Danger Mouse -
"A song like 'Crazy' is a great example," Burton says. "I brought in a song that I felt was a complete Ennio Morricone ripoff” he's referring to the definitive composer of countless spaghetti-western scores. "But Cee-Lo and I started talking, and I somehow got off on this tangent about how people won't take an artist seriously unless they're insane. And we were saying that if we really wanted this album to work, the best move would be to just kill ourselves. That's how audiences think; it's retarded. So we started jokingly discussing ways in which we could make people think we were crazy. We talked about this for hours, and then I went home. But while I was away, Cee-Lo took that conversation and made it into 'Crazy,' which we recorded in one take. That's the whole story. The lyrics are his interpretation of that conversation."
Right to the source. Although personal interpretation keeps many of us interested in music. We take what we want and need out of lyrics, music, and words in general. There are those who came here to find out the definite answer, and many who came to post thier personal interpretation.
I know that mine was way off, but hey, I still think it fits.
~Danielle
FreakyMunkye@gmail.com -
I think this song is likely about drugs, there are obvious references in the song. also, when he mentions his "heroes" (perhaps they were his musical heroes or people he looked up to in childhood) most likely all did drugs (especially true with the musical heroes). They were living their life "out on a limb" because they were risking things by constantly being on drugs. gnarls warns people who want to try drugs in the song by telling them to "think twice." however I don't think it's about marijuana I don't think that it's a hallucinogen unless it's like purple haze or something idk
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I think it is a love song. It is about madly falling in love in someone. It is a crazy feeling and at the same time beautiful. He is so in love and he says : "who do you thin you are?"- to a lover- Do you think you are in control? This is some anger because he is so in love that he feels mad because the other side doesn't show the same. So this is a sad part - he is angry and so in loved and under the power of the other person - so he says in anger-"Do you think you are in control". Because he is completely overwhelmed with the feelings and is losing a bit of identity.
Still the last part of the song is more philosophical. The thing is that he is brave to be overwhelmed with this love because it is obvious something that doesn't have future. It is like not allowed by society or something else.
It is a forbidden passionate love.
Being in love is like being on drugs -
I think that this song is truly about drugs and how he used to use drugs. But just because it's about drugs does NOT mean that it is a bad song, in fact I think that it is a subliminal message trying to tell kids about drugs and that they are bad, and that if you think that you are in control when you use them, then you are wrong you are not in control at all so if you use them then that makes you crazy.
Also he is saying that he once used drugs so that makes him crazy, and that if you do drugs you are crazy just like him.
So it's a subliminal message for all kids and teens telling that drugs ARE bad and not to use them. -
I think this song is about drugs.
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So while bored one day after I got home while I was listening to this song on the radio, and a certain line ("It wasn't because I didn't know enough, I just knew too much.") just caught my attention, and inspired and guided this entire entire interpretation.
This song (at least to me) tells the tale of a man who uncovered confidential documents at a classification level so high even a general would have to go through appropriations to have access.
To keep his discovery, which might just spread to the public and cause riots, panic, et cetera, the government censored him indirectly by institutionalizing him.
From this, the retelling from his interment in the happy home begins, as he begins explaining when he "lost his mind", or at least what the government has made the public belive.
His interment was horribly lonesome and solitary in his concrete room, so silent that even "your emotions have an echo" from the stillness and solitude of it all, the rooms seeming from claustrophobic to seemingly incredibly spacious, "in so much space."
Eventually, someone has the courage to approach him and befriend him, but instantly he criticizes her blissfully unaware state, eventually making her "crazy" too, as she learns about the predetermined nature the government has them mapped out for, and learns she really thought that she "was in control", and as far as the public is concerned, they're loonie, and they're both alienated from the general populace.
As the two slowly succumb into actual insanity from their isolation and constant stigma and bias, the speaker teaches about how he wanted to learn this kind of thing, and to uncover the government's secrets, his heros being those who had the courage to do so.
Alas, over time they actually do become crazy, and eventually end up killing themselves in their delusional state, and "died when they were done".
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