Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"

"Records don't really change my life anymore, no matter how good they are," a new friend observed recently on his Facebook page. At first I saw a great deal of truth in this - surely once we're well into adulthood, our self-definitions are so entrenched that it takes much more than a pop record to shake things up. But there have been a small handful of 2000s records that have still done just that for me.

Primary among them: Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." It was an unexpected cross-format smash in '06: here in the States, it hung out at #2 for several weeks (though the duo have alas not since returned to the Hot 100); in the U.K., it did even better, reigning at #1 for nine weeks before they deleted it from distribution so people wouldn't get sick of it.

A lot of factors accounted for its success: "Crazy" sounded like nothing else on pop (or alternative) radio at the time; the beat was simple yet insistently memorable; Cee-Lo sings the hell out of that hook; the Rohrschach-blottered video was a magnificent match; and "ha ha ha! bless your soul." I myself was in it for the spirit.

"Crazy" is a conversation between a tortured sensitive artist type and God. The TSA finds himself out there, out of touch; no one, he thinks, is in his tree, and it's because he's too aware of what's really going on. He asks for affirmation to process life this way. God replies: "I hope that you are having the time of your life. /... Who do you think you are? /... You really think you're in control?" TSA wonders how he ever got it in his head that he once could have answered those questions. Now, he's not so sure. Maybe his purpose and his isolation are transient and arbitrary ego feelings after all.

At least, that's how I've been understanding the song. Does that make me crazy?