# Crazy for You (Madonna song)

"Crazy for You" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for the film Vision Quest (1985), written by John Bettis and Jon Lind, and produced by John "Jellybean" Benitez. Released on March 2, 1985, through Geffen Records, it is a pop ballad with torch influences, and lyrics that talk about sexual attraction and desire. Jon Peters and Peter Guber produced Vision Quest, while Joel Sill, Warner Bros. Pictures music vice president, and music director Phil Ramone were in charge of putting together its soundtrack. Sill got in touch with Bettis and Lind, and asked them to write a new song for the film. The duo came up with "Crazy for You" after reading the script, and decided to use it in a scene in which the main characters – Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino – dance together for the first time.
Peters and Ramone knew Madonna from Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records, and proposed she record the song after watching her previous videos. Initial recording sessions did not impress Bettis and Lind, who felt that the track would be dropped from the soundtrack. The song was re-recorded with the involvement of composer Rob Mounsey, much to Bettis' and Lind's liking. "Crazy for You" was a challenge for Benitez, as his work up to that point had been only dance-pop, and ushered in a new musical direction for Madonna. Not wanting to draw attention from the singer's Like a Virgin album and its singles, Warner Bros. initially did not want to issue "Crazy for You" as a single, but Peters pushed and convinced executives to greenlight the release.
Upon release, critical reception towards the song was generally positive, with praise being given to Madonna's vocals. Additionally, it earned her first Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song became Madonna's second number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and reached the top of the charts of Australia and Canada. It also peaked at number two in Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. While no official music video was shot, Geffen put together a compilation that mixed scenes of Vision Quest with shots of Madonna singing. "Crazy for You" has been performed on three of the singer's concert tours, the most recent being the Celebration Tour of 2023–2024. Additionally, it has been covered by multiple artists, including Groove Armada and Kelly Clarkson, and featured in television series and movies like Full House and 13 Going on 30 (2004).

## Background

Following the success of Flashdance (1983), which grossed over $200 million at the box office, Jon Peters and Peter Guber produced D.C. Cab, but it turned out to be a critical and commercial failure. Their next project was an adaptation of Terry Davis's 1979 novel Vision Quest. Directed by Harold Becker, the film – also titled Vision Quest – stars Matthew Modine as a Spokane high school wrestler who falls in love with an older woman (Linda Fiorentino) renting a room in his father's house. Joel Sill, Warner Bros. Pictures music vice president, was given the task of putting together the soundtrack. Phil Ramone, who had worked with Peters and Guber on Flashdance, was hired as music supervisor.
Ramone decided to repeat what he'd done on Flashdance and compose the Vision Quest soundtrack of already published rock songs, such as Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" (1978), Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe" (1981), and "Change" (1982) by John Waite. Sill, by his part, contacted lyricist John Bettis, wanting him to write new material for the film. After reading the script, Bettis decided to write a song for a scene in which Modine and Fiorentino dance together for the first time. It was Bettis' co-writer Jon Lind who came up with the title "Crazy for You"; "[We] were noodling around and ['Crazy for You'] was something that Jon was singing over that section of the song. It was really descriptive of [the scene in the film]", Bettis recalled.
Peters and Ramone were both aware of Madonna, who at the time was signed on to Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records. They took her to dinner at the home of Barbra Streisand, Peters' former girlfriend, where she played some of her European videos, impressing them with her "self-possession and fishnet-crucifix style". In an act of "smart corporate syngergy", Ramone decided to have Madonna record the song. On top of that, Peters decided to cast her as a bar singer in Vision Quest after "testing her" at a studio in New York. He'd previously tried to get her cast in the 1986 film Ruthless People, but Touchstone Pictures quickly turned her down. The scenes with Madonna were shot at Spokane's Big Foot Tavern at the end of November 1983. While filming, Modine recalled that, "[the] producers were saying [she] was going to be such a big star, but I remember people not really being impressed".

## Development

   "['Crazy for You'] was recorded live. It was the first time that I produced a live session, as opposed to having synthesizers and drum machines do everything. [...] I was tense because I had never done a record like this. [...] Everything I did was totally on instinct. I tried to make the song stand on its own, but at the same time work in the two scenes in which it was used in the movie".
Bettis and Lind were on vacation when they got a phone call from Sills, telling them Madonna was going to record the song. Bettis recalled being "shocked" at the news; "I said, 'Excuse me? This is for Madonna? Really? Can she sing a song like this?' [Jon] and I were surprised at the choice of artist at the time, if you want to know the truth". They saw Madonna as a dance-pop singer, and not someone who could handle a ballad. Following an early recording session that didn't "go all that well", both Bettis and Lind became nervous that the song was going to be dropped and not used on Vision Quest. Afterwards, Bettis travelled to England to work on the film Legend with music producer Jerry Goldsmith. It was there he received a call from Lind, who informed him a new version of "Crazy for You" had been recorded and was made ready for a single release.
Bettis went over to Lind's house to hear the new recorded version of the song. It had a different arrangement than the demo version, done by composer Rob Mounsey, who rearranged the original track and added the background vocals. Pleased with the final product, Bettis went on to say: "We owe a big debt of gratitude to [Mounsey]. He really made a hit record out of [the song]". Mounsey was brought to the project by John "Jellybean" Benitez, the song's producer, who'd previously worked with Madonna on 1983's "Holiday". Prior to "Crazy for You", Benitez had worked mostly on dance-pop songs and never done a ballad. Furthermore, he noted that it was an important song for Madonna. She had already charted with pop singles "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl", but wanted to prove she could tackle other genres of music. Being a ballad, she saw "Crazy for You" as a chance to break through in the Adult contemporary market.

## Composition

Musically, "Crazy for You" marked a "sonic shift" in Madonna's career. It's been noted a pop ballad with torch influences. Stereogum's Tom Breihan pointed out that its overall sound is "dance-pop rendered in a ballad context". According to the sheet music published by Alfred Publishing, "Crazy for You" is set in the time signature of common time, with a medium tempo of 104 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E major, with Madonna's voice spanning between the high note of C♯$_5$ to the low note of G♯$_3$. The song has a basic sequence of E–A–B–A as its chord progression. Its lyrics talk about attraction, sexual desire, and, "[the] feelings that [Modine's character] won't just come out and say". The introduction features an oboe and an electric guitar chord that slides from one motif to the other.
Madonna's narrator spots someone from across a "smokey room", where other people pair off. She wants this person to come over and talk to her, but they never do. The verse is carried by the sound of the harp, a bass synthesizer, and a "chattering" single note guitar lick. Rooksby pointed out that the "fuller rhythm" doesn't start until after the chorus. In it, Madonna explicitly sings that she's "crazy" for this person: I'm crazy for you/Touch me once and you'll know it's true/ I never wanted anyone like this/It’s all brand new/You'll feel it in my kiss/I'm crazy for you. When saying the title phrase, she stretches out her vocals in such a way that makes her sound like a country singer, as noted by Breihan. At the end, just before the coda, Madonna stops singing altogether and "deadpans" the phrase I'm crazy for you, turning the song from, "[the] theme of a teenage melodrama, to an adult love song", according to Dave Marsh in The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. In Rock and Roll is Here to Stay: An Anthology, William McKeen wrote that in "Crazy for You" Madonna was telling women that it's acceptable to not only enjoy relationships, but to initiate them as well.

## Release

According to the Los Angeles Times, there were "enormous arguments" between executives at Warner's record and film divisions over the release of "Crazy for You". Vision Quest premiered on mid-February 1985, right after "Like a Virgin" had dropped out from the Billboard Hot 100's first spot, and its follow-up "Material Girl" was climbing up the chart. Sire did not want to detract attention from those singles and its parent album with a new release. On top of that, the "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" videos were getting heavy airplay on MTV, and executives worried Madonna would be overexposed. Warner Bros. Records chief Mo Ostin went to Warner chairman Robert A. Daly and asked him to drop "Crazy for You" and "Gambler" – another song Madonna wrote and recorded for Vision Quest – from the soundtrack. Daly summoned Peters and Guber to his office and informed them they were letting go of the songs. Following a heated discussion between Peters and Daly, an agreement was made: "Crazy for You" would be released as single in the United States, but "Gambler" would not.
"Crazy for You" was officially released on March 2, 1985, through Geffen Records. Almost six years later, on February 18, 1991, a remix by Shep Pettibone was issued as single in the United Kingdom to promote The Immaculate Collection (1990), Madonna's first greatest hits compilation. "Crazy for You" was further added to the compilations Something to Remember (1995) and Celebration (2009). No official music video was shot for "Crazy for You". Instead, Geffen put together a clip consisting of footage from Vision Quest interspersed with "sultry" shots of Madonna singing the song, and added to MTV on the week of February 2, 1985. Keith Thomas from The Spokesman-Review opined that, "the editing is good; the scenes from the movie blend in will with [Madonna's] performance". Author Daryl Easlea wrote that Madonna established herself as the decade's "video megastar" with "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl", and that "film clips" like "Crazy for You", "simply underlined and reinforced that message". It can be found on the 2009 compilation Celebration: The Video Collection. In Australia and the United Kingdom, Warner capitalized on the song and Madonna's popularity by releasing Vision Quest under the title Crazy for You.

## Critical reception

   "Madonna had already proven herself as a dance-pop singer long before 'Crazy for You', but she hadn't sung this kind of torch song before. She nails it. Her voice is confident and nervous at the same time. [...] She's never been a vocal powerhouse. But [she] communicates. [...] ['Crazy for You'] doesn’t sound like an early-80s movie ballad; that's why it works".
Upon release, critical feedback towards Crazy for You" was generally positive. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli said it was a "sassy" song that proved Madonna was "vocally capable of delivering a serious ballad". This opinion was shared by both David Marsh, and The Guardian's Jude Rogers, who nonetheless deemed the track, "slightly soupy, but still sweet". Rikky Rooksby expressed that, when compared to Madonna's previous singles, "['Crazy for You'] exhibits a slight increase in sophistication". Similarly, the staff of Cash Box magazine felt the song "displays [Madonna's] voice in a different context, one that is more mature and ultimately marketable", even if it's not as "infecitously danceable" as her previous works.
Allen Metz and Carol Benson – authors of The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary – wrote that "Crazy for You" sounded like a "remake of sweet-sixteen Connie Francis tunes, dripping with old-fashioned, hand-held romance". For author Mark Bego, it's the "most remembered aspect of [Vision Quest] [...] A sensitive and powerful ballad, delivered with sincerity and emotion". On her review of Something to Remember, USA Today's Edna Gundersen referred to "Crazy for You" as "touching and beautifully arranged". "Crazy for You" was considered the singer's "purest ballad to date" by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, writing for The A.V. Club. For Matthew Jacobs from the HuffPost, even though it features Madonna's "strongest vocals" from the time, and "may still be her greatest love ballad, ['Crazy for You'] is dull by today's standards". Both Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson and Duane Dudek from the Star-News said "Crazy for You" exposed Madonna's early vocal weakness.

### Recognition

At the 28th Annual Grammy Awards, "Crazy for You" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, but lost to Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You". From PinkNews, Nayer Missim named it Madonna's 48th greatest song: "[A] rare early bit of floaty balladry [that] proved a point to all those who had dismissed [Madonna] as gloss and glamour without any sort of range", Missim wrote. Billboard's Katie Atkinson deemed it a "dreamy-eyed single" that, "foretold the versatility to come from [Madonna]", as well as her 43rd best song. In Parade's ranking, it came in at number 32. "Crazy for You" is Madonna's 12th and 11th greatest song for Entertainment Weekly's Chuck Arnold, and the staff of Rolling Stone, respectively. According to the former, "although [Madonna] would become a better singer on future ballads, the raw, soulful yearning on ['Crazy for You'] is something that they can't teach you in voice class", while for the latter, it was the "highlight" of Vision Quest, "a carbonated ballad with propulsive production".
Enio Chola from PopMatters said that "Crazy for You" became "the high-school slow dance song" of the 1980s, adding that, "although Madonna didn't have a hand in writing the ballad, it stings of her presence [...] [it] marked a new direction in which the pop-artiste would excel [...] Proved that she still possessed all of the same charisma and persona in a slowed-down sultry and subdued offering". "Crazy for You" was referred to as Madonna's first "big ballad" by The Arizona Republic's Ed Masley, who also named it her fifth best song. It was also named one of the greatest love songs by VH1 and Stereogum. On Yahoo! Voices' ranking of the "Top 40 Romantic Love Songs of All Time", and "Best Love Ballads and Slow Songs of the 80's", it was allocated the 14th and sixth spot, respectively.

## Chart performance

"Crazy for You" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 55 the week of March 2, 1985. By the end of the month, it gave Madonna her fifth consecutive top-ten hit in less than a year, a streak that began with "Borderline" in June of 1984, and continued through "Material Girl". She became the third female solo artist to simultaneously score two singles in the chart's top-ten, after Diana Ross and Barbra Streisand. On May 11, after spending three consecutive weeks at number two, "Crazy for You" reached the Hot 100's top spot, overthrowing USA for Africa's "We Are the World", and becoming Madonna's second US number-one. "Crazy for You" was the second number-one for Geffen Records, following John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" (1980); the second for Bettis after "Top of the World" (1973) by the Carpenters; the first for Lind and Benitez, and the first from a movie since Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" (1984).
"Crazy for You" reached the second spot of the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, behind "Rhythm of the Night" by DeBarge. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on July 16, for shipment of one million copies across United States – the requirement for a gold single prior to 1989. By the end of 1985, "Crazy for You" ranked 20th on the Adult Contemporary chart, and number 9 on the Hot 100. In Canada, the song debuted in the 70th position of RPM's Top Singles chart on the week of March 16, 1985; two months later, it reached the first spot. "Crazy for You" came in at number 7 on the official year-end RPM chart.
In the United Kingdom, "Crazy for You" entered the singles chart at number 25 on June 8, 1985, eventually peaking at number two on the week of August 6. Following its second release on 1991, it debuted and peaked at number two. "Crazy for You" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 500,000 copies across United Kingdom. With over 782,000 copies sold, it is Madonna's third most successful single in the United Kingdom as of 2015, according to the Official Charts Company. In Australia and New Zealand, "Crazy for You" reached the first and second spot, respectively. In the former country, it displaced another Madonna release – the double sided "Angel"/"Into the Groove" – from the top spot of the Kent Music Report chart, making her one of the few acts in Australian chart history to replace themselves at the number-one spot. Throughout Europe, the single saw moderate success: It reached the top-ten of the European Hot 100 Singles, and the top-twenty in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain. In was less successful in France, Germany and Austria, where it barely cracked the top 40 and top 30.

## Live performances

"Crazy for You" has been included on three of Madonna's concert tours: Virgin (1985), Re-Invention (2004), and Celebration (2023–2024). On the first one, she sang dressed in a black ensemble consisting of fringed mini-top and skirt, and multiple-sized crucifixes. Billboard's Paul Grein wrote that the singer, "was at her best on 'Crazy for You', making good use of a deeper, huskier vocal quality that mirrors [the song's] deeper lyrical approach". The performance at Detroit's Cobo Arena was included on the Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour video release (1985). On the Re-Invention World Tour, Madonna dedicated the song to, "the fans that've stood by me for the last twenty years". She donned a plaid kilt and a black T-shirt that read "Kabbalists Do It Better". Sarah Rodman from the Boston Herald said it was a "sweet moment in what was a truly spectacular show".
On February 25, 2016 – second Manila concert of her Rebel Heart Tour – Madonna sang "Crazy for You" as tribute to the 30th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution. Before the performance she said: "I believe 30 years ago you fought for your freedom, am I correct? It's called People Power Freedom [sic], did I say that right? Up with democracy and freedom! That is the revolution of love. And that's what a rebel heart fights for. So on this very special occasion, I want to sing this song". The staff of CNN Philippines pointed out that, "the crowd went wild as [Madonna] hit the first few notes of her first ballad".
"Crazy for You" was mashed up with "Human Nature" (1995) on the Celebration Tour. Madonna sings "Human Nature" after being arrested by dancers dressed as cops. She's then "rescued" by her "younger self" – a dancer in the latex catsuit and braids from the "Human Nature" music video – and begins to sing "Crazy for You" as a "touching recognition of her bravery", as noted by PopMatters' Chris Rutherford. The number was criticized by Mikael Wood, writing for Los Angeles Times, who found it confusing.

## Cover versions and media appearances

Several Filipino acts have covered "Crazy for You": Michael Cruz in 2005, MYMP for their 2006 album New Horizon, and Sponge Cola in 2008. English electronic music duo Groove Armada recorded "Crazy for You" with vocals provided by Alan Donohoe – of art rock band the Rakes – for the compilation Radio 1: Established 1967 (2007). Also in 2007, the song was covered by American rock band New Found Glory for their album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II, and by Lion of Panjshir for Through the Wilderness. Madonna impersonator Melissa Totten did a Hi-NRG cover for her album Forever Madonna (2008). On February 4, 2012, American singer Kelly Clarkson sang "Crazy for You" on the Bossier City concert of her Stronger Tour per fan request.
In 1985, "Crazy for You" was featured on Brazilian telenovela A Gata Comeu, and subsequently added to its soundtrack. However, according to authors Guilherme Bryan and Vincent Villari in their book Teletema: Volume I: 1964 a 1989, Warner Brazil's representatives did not obtain permission in time to include the song on the album. Pressings that had been distributed up until that point were removed from stores, and the soundtrack was quickly reissued with Sade's "Smooth Operator" (1984) in place of "Crazy for You". Copies with "Crazy for You" on its tracklist have since become sought-after collectibles. An instrumental version of the song plays during a party scene in "13 Candles" – 17th episode of the third season of American sitcom Full House, aired on February 9, 1990.
In the 2004 film 13 Going on 30, "Crazy for You" was used twice: First in a scene in which main character Jenna (Christa B. Allen) waits for her love interest Matt (Sean Marquette) in a closet, and then towards the end, where the now grown-up Jenna and Matt (Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo) are married. "Crazy for You" was sung by Chris Griffin on "Long John Peter", twelfth episode of the sixth season of American animated television series Family Guy, aired on May 4, 2008. Finally, the song was featured in the 2016 web film The Do-Over, with vocals by Adam Sandler and David Spade.

## Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel are adapted from the Vision Quest soundtrack liner notes.
* Madonna – lead vocals, background vocals
* John Bettis – writer
* Jon Lind – writer
* John "Jellybean" Benitez – record producer
* Rob Mounsey – music arrangement
* Greg Fulginiti – mastering

## Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for "Crazy for You" :
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Japan | — | 46,300 |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 782,000 |
| United States (RIAA) | Gold | 2,000,000 |
| Digital |||
| United States | — | 211,000 |