Patsy Cline is an undisputed country queen. Her legacy is well felt throughout Music City. There isn’t a country artist around today that can’t credit some of their sound to Cline’s era-defining run as a country star. To celebrate a small but integral part of that legacy, revisit Cline’s self-titled EP, released on this day in 1962. This EP helped solidify Cline’s sound, thanks to her legendary run of top-selling hits from the previous year.
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Patsy Cline’s Self-Titled 1962 EP, Featuring “Crazy”
The year before the release of this EP, Cline shared many of her name-making hits. Her successful run was made all the more critical because of a near-fatal car accident that preceded it.
Cline got into the accident just a couple of months before she recorded her era-defining version of “Crazy.” With broken ribs and on crutches, Cline struggled to hit the high notes this song required. Nevertheless, Cline wowed with her version of this Willie Nelson-penned track.
A year later, Cline added “Crazy” to her self-titled EP, which featured three more of Cline’s top-selling tracks, “Foolin’ ‘Round,” “Who Can I Count on,” and “South of the Border.” The EP highlighted the best of Cline’s post-accident efforts, proliferating her success from the singles themselves.
Cline’s Version of “Crazy”
Despite the runaway success of “Crazy,” the country star initially didn’t want it.” “I don’t care what you say,” she reportedly said. “I don’t like it and I ain’t gonna record it.”
She eventually was convinced, albeit with a few structural changes from Nelson’s original version. The song went No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
The success of Cline’s rendition also helped to push Nelson to stardom.
“I was [on Broadway] one night and saw Charlie Dick,” Nelson once said. “I knew he was married to sweet Patsy Cline, who sang like an angel. He continued, “I had a scratchy record of me singing ‘Crazy’ where I sure as hell didn’t sound like an angel.”
“I sounded more like a man desperate to have someone else sing the song,” Nelson added. “Anyway, I played it for Charlie, who liked it so well he drove me over to his house at one a.m., woke up poor Patsy, and made her listen to it.”
This track helped Nelson believe in his songwriting ability, paving the way for a long, enduring career.
“Crazy is as crazy does, and this particular ‘Crazy’ convinced me, at a time when I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of my writing talent, that I’d be crazy to stop writing,” he added.
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