A song originated by English soul artist Seal, who wrote its lyrics and jointly composed its music in collaboration with producer Guy Sigsworth. The song was produced by Trevor Horn for Seal's debut album Seal (1991). Released as his debut single, "Crazy" became one of Seal's biggest hits, reaching the top five in the United Kingdom and first top ten in the United States. It has since been interpreted by several artists, including Alanis Morissette, whose version was released as a single from her album The Collection (2005).

In a church, by the face
He talks about the people going under

Only child know

A man decides after seventy years
That what he goes there for, is to unlock the door
While those around him criticize and sleep
And through a fractal on a breaking wall
I see you my friend, and touch your face again
Miracles will happen as we trip

But we're never gonna survive unless
We get a little crazy
No, we're never gonna survive unless
We are a little crazy

Crazy yellow people walking through my head
One of them's got a gun, to shoot the other one
And yet together they were friends at school
Ohh, get it, get it, get it, get it? No no

If all were there when we first took the pill
Then maybe, then maybe, then maybe, then maybe
Miracles will happen as we speak

But we're never gonna survive unless
We get a little crazy
No, we're never gonna survive unless
We are a little crazy
No no, never survive, unless we get a little bit...




(Oh darlin')
In a sky full of people, only some want to fly
Isn't that crazy
In a world full of people, only some want to fly
Isn't that crazy, crazy

In a heaven of people there's only some want to fly
Ain't that crazy
Oh babe, oh darlin'
In a world full of people there's only some want to fly
Isn't that crazy, ain't that crazy, ain't that crazy, ain't that crazy

Oh, but we're never gonna survive unless, we get a little crazy
No, we're never gonna survive unless we are a little (crazy)
But we're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy
No, we're never gonna survive unless we are a little, crazy
No no, never survive unless we get a little bit...

CHURCH= A Christian temple.

BY THE FACE= (slang) When you do or say something which has no sense in that situation, you do it by the face.

GOING UNDER= Feeling depressed; sinking.

ONLY CHILD KNOW= Only children know.

UNLOCK= Open with a key.

CRITICIZE= Talk about how bad he is.

FRACTAL= This is an interesting word you don't hear very often in lyrics. It's a mathematical term for an image constructed by the rule of a formula, such that it will generate a complex, self-similar design using just a few simple rules. In computer graphics, fractals are most useful for quickly generating natural objects, such as ferns, snowflakes, clouds, lightning, coastlines, and mountain ranges. At the time of this song's release, fractals were a hot topic in the news, because of the second wave of the home computer revolution plus the increasing use of computer graphics in video work. Many screensavers of this era were simply fractal generators. Seal could have meant "fracture" (he was talking about the Berlin Wall, getting knocked down in 1991), but on the other hand "fractal" has a poetic sense to it too, as a simple act produced spiraling repercussions that are still felt in history today.

TRIP= (slang) Travel.
Some people say this song is about how cool drugs are, and then this “trip” is the colloquial term for the effects a drug produces in you (“I’m on a trip”= I’m under the effects of a drug). This meaning is possible but not too probable. See under the Meaning tab.

GONNA= (coll.) Going to.

GET IT?= (coll.) Do you understand it?

TOOK THE PILL= To take the pill maybe to take a drug or to make a decision about what kind of world we want (see under the Meaning tab for more).

AS WE SPEAK= At this very moment, right now. The most common form for this is "even as we're talking":
- Your boyfriend is driving to London even as we're talking

This song was inspired by the crazy events of 1989-90, in particular the fall of the Berlin Wall. The lyrics, "And through a fractal on a breaking wall, I see you my friend, and touch your face again" appears to be a reference to the Berlin Wall coming down.

The meaning of this song sounds very obscure without any official interpretation on the part of the author, and different people see different hidden meanings in it, so I decided to search the Net and I bring an interpretation that makes the most sense to me, so I'll copy it here. It's by a man whose nick is Lyricsgeek:

I've been listening to this for a while and think the lyrics are much simpler than discussed here. Seal seems to be lamenting about how there's so much hatred in the world because people are rigid in their views. Think about this:


A man decides after seventy years,
That what he goes there for, is to unlock the door.
While those around him criticize and sleep...

who's the man? How about Reagan?
In 1987, Reagan, an american president in his seventies, tell Russian prime minister to "tear down this wall."
Reagan articulates the idea of tearing down the wall (of hatred).

And through a fractal on a breaking wall,
I see you my friend, and touch your face again.
Miracles will happen as we trip.

The wall didn't come down until 1989, but people were fleeing. The "trip" Seal is referring to is the notion of travel. He's in Germany on a trip and he's seeing the effects and inspiration of a wall being torn down.

But we're never gonna survive, unless...
We get a little crazy
No we're never gonna survive, unless...
We are a little...

Seal thinks that for the world to change - it needs to embrace "crazy" ideas that go against accepted rules, practices and beliefs.

yellow people walking through my head. One of them's got a gun, to shoot the other one. And yet together they were friends at school
Ohh, get it, get it, get it, get it no no!

Again, current news in 1989...
Tian-anm-en Square protests and senseless killings. Soldiers firing upon people they knew and probably when to school with because they're ordered to politics getting in the way of a free world

If all were there when we first took the pill,
Then maybe, then maybe, then maybe, then maybe...
Miracles will happen as we speak.

if everyone took the same pill at the same time, then maybe we'd all be on the same page but because people around the world hold different beliefs, we can never get along unless one beliefs explores the others' "crazy" ideology, which would be a miracle.

In a sky full of people, only some want to fly,
Isn't that crazy?

In Germany, even after the wall came down... some people were saying
they didn't want to leave... didn't want freedom - isn't that crazy?

In a world full of people, only some want to fly,
Isn't that crazy?

In Chin-a, when democracy was at hand, many people didn't want to stand
up and get freedom - isn't that crazy?

Crazy...
In a heaven of people there's only some want to fly,
Ain't that crazy?

Even when we can agree about a Creator and our anointed right to live free, some people still accept being repressed. isn't that crazy?

any other interpretation of this song is really just..... crazy!