What does Crazy mean?

Gnarls Barkley: Crazy Meaning

Album cover for Crazy album cover

Song Released: 2006


Crazy Lyrics

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
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...

Write an interpretation
  1. x_lily_x
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     Nov 21st 2007 !⃝

    About being craaaaaaaaaaaaazy!

  2. anonymous
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     Nov 18th 2007 !⃝

    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."

  3. anonymous
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     May 29th 2007 !⃝

    I have heard so many things about this song and every one of them are kinda funny. I have heard everything from drugs, to love, to war, and they are all right, but all wrong. If you look at the music video it is a bunch of ink blots, but it you gotta think about what he is saying. The song is about everything, or ones own vision of it. At first I was 100% SURE it was about drugs, but then I realized it's about much more. It is a song about everything and nothing, maybe that's crazy...probably

  4. anonymous
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     Apr 25th 2007 !⃝

    Well guys if you've read the interview with Gnarls in rolling stone then you would know that this song is about cee-lo taking lsd when he was in military school.... as if the lyrics and video weren't enough of a clue..... yeah on that note guys, get a fucking clue

  5. anonymous
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     Apr 10th 2007 !⃝

    I think the first interpretation is correct. Crazy is also a word that is really losely thrown around in society- I believe this would necessarily represent drug use! When I hear the word "Crazy" in the song I hear affection for it; whenever I hear someone else say that too it's usually taken as a compliment!

  6. anonymous
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     Mar 3rd 2007 !⃝

    I relate to this song because I've been there. Gnarls did a hallucigin--probably mushrooms--but he didn't come down like he normally did. This time, it took him over the edge.and He literally went out of his mind--he was confused, afraid, "out of touch", and everything he thought he knew about life was put into question, "I knew too much".

    Then suddenly he realized, for the first time in his life, that he's not in control, "you really think you're in control?". He reached out to the only one who could save him from insanity, confusion, and every evil thing---Jesus Christ!

  7. anonymous
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     Dec 30th 2006 !⃝

    I think he's killer crazy. In lines
    "And when you're out there without care
    I was out of touch
    But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
    I just knew too much" he means she was out there cheating on him and he knew what was going on."Does that make me crazy
    Does that make me crazy
    Does that make me crazy
    Possibly", that would be a foreshadow. (he kills her)
    Then when he says " In all that you were having the time of your life
    But think twice That's my only advice", again she was having fun out there cheating and "think twice that's my only advice", probably means watch out or else."Who do you think you are
    ha ha ha
    Bless your soul
    You really think you're in control", means how could you cheat on ME and he laughs making fun of her. "Well
    I think you're crazy
    I think you're crazy
    I think you're crazy
    Just like me"-he thinks she's crazy for cheating on him and, just as everyone is, he is "crazy" as well especially since he killed her because of her unfaithfulness. "My heroes had the heart to live their lives out on a limb
    All I remember
    Was thinking I wanna be like them
    Ever since I was little
    Ever since I was little
    It looked like fun
    It was no coincidence I've come
    And I can die when I'm done

    But maybe I'm crazy
    Maybe you're crazy
    Maybe we're crazy
    Probably"-All of this is saying he grew up watching violence and he liked it and got sick in the head. He'll keep killing until his time is done. I'm not sure though, it sounds more like drugs.

  8. anonymous
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     Dec 29th 2006 !⃝

    He's on crack and that girl is cheating on him. Simple....duh!!!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. anonymous
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     Nov 20th 2006 !⃝

    After listening to Gnarls Barkley's song entitled "Crazy", I am convinced that he is speaking about his experiences with psychedelics. It might be just Marijuana but it is possible Gnarls is talking about any hallucinogen. I have had lots of experiences with psychedelic drugs including marijuana, home-grown mushrooms, wild-grown mushrooms, and mescaline. On one experience I had with home-grown mushrooms, I ate WAY too much (2.4 dry grams) and travelled along the edges of insanity. I can still remember the intense experience and Gnarls remembers his too stating in the first line:

    "I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind"

    Then he mentions some of the effects of the drug he experienced in the next lines saying:

    "There was something so pleasant about that place (phase?)
    Even your emotions had in echo
    And so much space"

    The pleasant factor was maybe the laughter or the sense of wonder, exicitness, or tranquillity that psychedelics can produce in the mind. Then the emotion-echo is proubly refering to his psychedelic experience that not only had sounds that were echoing (from auditory hallucinations), but emotions were felt twice or more as like a echos makes sounds be heard more than once. As for the "and so much space", that can be pretty much anything. One thing could be that he was outside looking up at the stars at night and thought "wow, look at all that space". I looked at the stars on mushrooms and all I thought was "Man, space is so big compared to Earth". It could also be when he closed his eyes, he had what is called Closed Eye Visual hallucinations. I have experienced these CEV's and believe me, I have seen many things that seem to go on forever into the distance of my eyelids.

    Skipping down the lyrics, Gnarls speaks again about 'losing his mind':

    "Yeah, I was out of touch
    But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
    I just knew too much"

    Simply, he was 'out of touch' with reality. This is common with psychedelics, especially people who are unexperienced with these types of drugs. And it was because he "knew too much" about everything. Maybe he started to self-reflect and had a overload of information coming into his mind. Or maybe he had overload of senses and could not make sense of what he was experiencing. There can be a lot of possible meanings for the "I just knew too much" and I only mentioned a few.

    In the next lines, he gives advice to anyone who wants to try psychedelics saying:

    "And I hope your having the time of your life
    But think twice
    Thats my only advice"

    He realises that drugs can be fun, but they can also do harm to ones mind and life. Thats why he warns the user to "think twice" before using any psychedelic as bad trips can happen and they can be very unconfortable experiences.

    "Come on now, who do you...think you are?
    Ha Ha Ha, bless your soul
    You really think you're in control?"

    I think these lines are refering to people he's talk to that think that they can handle any psychedelic at any dose. Gnarls is proubly laughing at them because he thinks these people are naive for underestimating hallucinogens. And the "you...think you're in control?" is proubly refering to people who are confident they will not have Bad Trip or people who are addicted to the substance (likely Marijuana) and think that they are "in control" of their habit.

    The last lines I will decipher is these:

    "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"

    When he was little, Gnarls proubly lived in an area where a lot of people smoked marijuana. He watched and learned that smoking marijuana lead to laughter and smiling, which equals fun. Then he tried it and "its no concidence.." that it really is fun. Which means the whole song is proubly about his first experiences with mairjuana. My first experience with marijuana was by far the most intense psychedelic experience to this date. However, it didn't feel like I was going 'crazy' but it was very intense and profound.

    As for the "And I can die when I'm done", I have no idea what he's talking about. Maybe it means that after he's bored with Mary Jane, he is ready to die. Maybe he's talking about his Perfect Self (this is experienced by users who take a huge dose of halluciogens at once and reach a point where they feel that they are in the most perfect form of themselves. It feels as if every sober moment before that psychedelic moment was a fog that hid them from discovering their self. The psychedelic drug, to the user, has lifted that fog and expose the user to his/her true, perfect self.)
    But who knows. Only Gnarls Barkley knows the real meaning. Or maybe, even he "knows too much".

    If you want to see the visual interpretation of "Crazy" download the music video. Its a tripped-out journey of animated ink that may be refering to psychiatry, mentally-distrubed people and ink blot interpretations. And don't forget to look for the White Rabbit man.

    ~LogicalChaos~

  10. anonymous
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     Nov 18th 2006 !⃝

    When I heard this song the first time, I was surprised. I had never heard any other song talk about mental illness so openly. (it could be schizophrenia, bi-polar or any other).

    And it seems that being in that state is enjoyable, and he has a problem with the stigma attached to it by others. And the others too, are just as crazy as him, without even noticing.

  11. anonymous
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     Aug 18th 2006 !⃝

    Lot of narrow interpretations here, lot of clueless people here. I think the first interpretation is pretty much on the mark. The author is not writing about some specific event or person in his life, or drug for that matter. "I remember when I lost my mind". That's what psychiatrists like to call a "psychological break" or what some people refer to as a nervous breakdown. I'm guessing the author may have had some experience with mental therapy, whereupon he may have reflected on the supposed sanity of the caregiver. When you see things as they are it is pretty crazy. If you lose your mind the people who try to help you are probably really just as crazy as you are, but they don't know it. "who do you think you are... You really think you're in control... Well I think your crazy, just like me."

  12. anonymous
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     Aug 4th 2006 !⃝

    Ok, if you don't see that it's about coke you're dumb.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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     Jul 26th 2006 !⃝

    This is not about drugs!

  14. anonymous
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     Jul 13th 2006 !⃝

    This song is without a doubt about drugs. Mainly a LSD or Ecstacy vibe, you can also see how it can be about other drugs. MAybe I'm crazy because I am doing drugs. WHile you are on them you migt think you're having the time of your life, but you better think twice, that's his only advice. He remembers when he lost his mind from drugs. He saw other musicians experiementing and he wanted to be just like them. ALthough like a lot of good songs this song can have more than one meaning, but it is without a doubt about drugs. P.S. If you don't believe me watch the video!

  15. anonymous
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     Jun 28th 2006 !⃝

    I do think this song is about drugs.
    The feelings people say they have when they are on hallusinegens is simmilar to these lyris. when he states it wasnt because he didn't know enough, he just new to much... I this is clearly refering to LSD, his mind is opend to an extream, likewise to when he says his emotions have echos and space. you have deeper thought on hallusinagens. also some people experiance deep fear, or belive they are going crazy. This could possibly be about a bad drug experiance he had.
    just my idea.

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