Rate-O-Rama: Crazy

Welcome to Rate-O-Rama

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Rate-O-Rama : Songmania is a reader participation game.

Every Sunday I will publish a Rate-O-Rama article which will feature three versions of a popular song.

The object is to listen to each of the music videos provided within the post.

After listening to each video you can rate each song in the comments section below.

(You must be a member to comment. If you are not a member you can join Vocal Media for FREE. You don’t ever have to pay for membership unless you choose to upgrade your membership)

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The rating method is easy. Simply give each song a rating of 1 to 100.

(The more you like the song the higher the rating).

If possible, please provide a brief comment explaining the reasoning behind your ratings for each song.

After a week (Saturday evening) I will tally the ratings and in the next Rate-O-Rama post I will announce the winner from the previous post.

The winners will be determined on a scale of averages.

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The Raffle!!!

I am taking the Rate-O-Rama series to the next level. At the end of each month I will do a raffle in which the winner will win a $5.00 tip.

To enter all you have to do is participate in playing the Rate-O-Rama game. Since R-O-R is updated every Sunday night in order to qualify you must play the game during it's initial seven day period with Sunday evening being the cutoff period.

For each game you play you will receive a ticket for the raffle. Therefore if you play all four games in the month you will have four chances to win.

The winner will not only win the $5 prize but I will feature your Vocal Profile on Vocal + Assist on both Facebook and Discord and you will be featured in the first R-O-R game of the month after your win.

The October 2023 Rate-O-Rama Raffle Winner:

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Last week we featured the Modern Rock classic: "Hallelujah" as recorded by Coldplay (2002),Willie Nelson (2011), and Corinne Bailey Rare (2017).

The following are the average ratings for each song as resulted from the votes:

🥇 Corinne Bailey Rae: 81.9

🥈 Coldplay: 75

🥉 Willie Nelson: 70.4

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The Fourteenth Edition of Rate-O-Rama features three renditions of the Country Music classic: "Crazy."

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Patsy Cline (1961)

Patsy Cline is considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century and of all time.

From Wikipedia: Cline's husband Charlie Dick had previously taken her to a demo of Willie Nelson's "Night Life". Cline disliked the song, and she asked her husband not to bring her any more of Nelson's songs, saying that she did not want to record compositions that embraced vulnerability or loss of love. The persistent singer/songwriter/song promoter Hank Cochran drove Nelson to Cline's house with the demo of "Crazy". While Nelson waited in the car, Cochran played the song for Cline. Cline told Cochran to bring Nelson into the house, where he taught her to sing the song. Cline had difficulty following Nelson's phrasing because he sang behind the beat.

Producer Owen Bradley added The Jordanaires (Elvis Presley's backing singers) on background vocals.

Bradley asked Cline to sing the song in her style instead of Willie Nelson's style. She nailed it on the first take.

Patsy Cline took the song to #2 on both the US Country charts and US Adult Contemporary charts and #9 on the US Hot 100 Singles chart. She also made it to #8 in Canada as well as #14 in both the UK and Ireland.

In 2003, Cline's recording was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. In 1992, Patsy's version of "Crazy" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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Willie Nelson (1962)

Nelson included his recording of “Crazy” on his debut studio album And Then I Wrote. The album also included his versions of “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “Hello Walls” which were both huge hits for other artists.

The success of “Hello Walls” and “Crazy” allowed Nelson to become a recording artist in his own right.

Willie Nelson originally titled the song “Stupid” but changed it to the more appealing "Crazy." Despite the song's popularity Nelson never released it as a single as Patsy Cline had only released it a year earlier and was still receiving radio airplay with the song.

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Linda Ronstadt (1976)

Ronstadt included “Crazy” on her classic 1976 platinum-certified album Hasten Down the Wind. She released the song as the B-Side of “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me,” which received moderate airplay on FM and Adult Contemporary radio formats but did not chart very high. Country music disc jockeys flipped the record and began playing “Crazy” which became a solid country music hit reaching #6 on the US Country charts and #2 on the Canadian Country charts.

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My Thoughts

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Patsy Cline: Classic!!! Patsy is an amazing vocalist. Her voice was instantly recognizable, strong, melodic, and crystal clear. Patsy was one of a kind. The classic tones of the Jordanaires gives the song that extra depth and personality. The tinkling piano brings the song an air of class. I love the smooth arrangement which fit well in the era shortly after the popularity of big bands from the 1940s through the early to mid 1950s. This one sounds great in one of those smokey jazz clubs, sipping on a glass of wine sitting at a table on an outdoor patio. I must give Patsy a 100.

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Willie Nelson: Kudos to Willie for writing this all-time classic! Willie was a master at combining country and jazz and he’s been doing it right from the beginning of his career as a recording artist. Nelson also looked back to the big band swing era for his musical arrangement. The addition of pedal steel guitar-like bends gives the song its country twang. Willie’s voice works perfectly with this arrangement. He sings the song with a bit of heartbreak in his voice. His vocal jazz timing is fine in this recording. However he fully developed his jazz tinged vocals to full bloom with the release of his classic Stardust album released in 1978. I also give Willie 100 for his rendition.

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Linda Ronstadt: To be honest I don’t know whose vocal performance I like more, Linda's or Patsy’s. Both are equally phenomenal. This is one of several songs Linda recorded in the 1970s which could be considered a predecessor to her classic “What’s New” album released in 1983. Ronstadt really puts the heartbreak into her powerful and perfectly pitched vocals. She does a beautiful job with the song. Dan Dugmore’s steel guitar brings out the country flavor of the song while Clarence McDonald’s acoustic piano adds a hint of jazz to the mix. The arrangement is pared down adding only Andrew Gold’s (Thank You For Being A Friend) acoustic guitar and Mike Botts’ soothing jazz timed drums. Kenny Edwards, David Campbell, and producer Peter Asher kept the arrangement true to Patsy’s and Willie’s originals. This is a first for me, perfect trifecta but Linda Ronstadt also receives 100.

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I will be back next week with the results of this Rate-O-Rama Edition.

Last Week's Rate-O-Rama:

With Love, RHC ❤️