Patsy Cline Stories

(written by Willie Nelson)

Patsy Cline (#2 country, #9 pop, 1962)

Ray Price (#73, 1967)

Linda Ronstadt (#6 country, 1977)

When Faron Young topped Billboard’s country singles chart for nine weeks and reached #12 on the Billboard pop chart with “Hello Walls” in early 1961, songwriter Willie Nelson, a man considered kind of “quirky” by most people in the music business, suddenly found himself in high demand. It seemed that all of a sudden, everyone in town wanted to record one of his songs, and his demos were being ordered by dozens of different studios, managers and stars.

When Willie would walk into Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, the watering hole of choice for most music industry personnel, all the patrons would gather around to see what Nashville’s newest genius had written lately. Patsy Cline was no exception. She too grabbed Nelson whenever she got a chance and begged him to share some of his latest song ideas. After hearing Willie’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” she knew she wanted that song for her next session, so she called the writer to arrange a meeting. However, things didn’t turn out the way Patsy had planned.

Billy Walker had known Willie Nelson since their days in Texas. The singer had even put Willie up at his house when Nelson first came to Nashville. When Willie had needed someone to cut demos of his songs, Walker had stepped in. Billy had even sung the demo on “Funny How Time Slips Away.”

When Walker’s label, Columbia, heard his version of the Nelson composition, they opted for Billy to re-cut and release the tune. It had been eight years since Walker had managed a top ten record, and the label thought this song might give his career a much-needed shot in the arm.

Patsy Cline was infuriated when she discovered that Billy Walker and Columbia had beaten her to “Funny How Time Slips Away.” She needed a follow-up to her recent #1 hit “I Fall to Pieces,” and she wanted it to have the ability to cross over to the pop chart. Cline urged Nelson to allow her to record “Funny How Time Slips Away” too, but Willie owed far too much to Walker to let that happen, so he declined Patsy’s request. Then the ever-polite Nelson, addressing Cline as “Miss Patsy,” told her he had other songs back at the office that had hit potential, and she could have one of those.

It was Walker who then suggested one of Nelson’s tunes that he thought might be right for Patsy called “Crazy.” Willie himself had recorded the demo on that one, a song that Nelson had composed soon after his arrival in Nashville.

When Willie had first pitched it, the song failed to generate any interest, so he simply filed it away. During his early years as a songwriter, Nelson had sold some of his tunes for a mere pittance of what they eventually turned out to be worth, and occasionally he would try to sell “Crazy,” but finding a home for the number was not his passion. Yet, at the moment when Patsy and her producer Owen Bradley were in dire need of a song, “Crazy” was all the young Texan had to offer at the time.

“Crazy” didn’t have any special story behind it. The song had fallen together at a writing session. Yet, even though the tune’s words were not apparently linked to any special event in Nelson’s life, they seemed to reflect a lot of what he was having to deal with upon his entry into the world of Music City songwriting. Poor, alone (his family had stayed in Texas until Willie could make enough money to bring them to Tennessee), talented, but unappreciated, Nelson had to be aware just how crazy he was for sticking it out in the music business. In almost a decade of work, he had very little to show for his efforts. He loved the industry, but it didn’t seem to express any affection for him. In a very real sense, even if it was unintended, “Crazy” reflected Willie’s relationship with his profession.

Patsy agreed to record “Crazy” without even listening to it first (just the fact that Willie had written it was good enough for her) and brought Nelson’s demo to the Quonset Hut studio on the evening of Monday, August 21, 1961. Arriving with her for the 7:00 PM session were producer Owen Bradley and the usual ensemble of Nashville’s acclaimed “A Team” group of musicians: Grady Martin on electric guitar, Floyd Cramer on piano, Harold Bradley on electric bass, Bob Moore on acoustic bass and Buddy Harman on drums, along with background vocalists The Jordanaires. Also at the session was Patsy’s manager Randy Hughes chiming in on acoustic guitar (he would later pilot the airplane that would crash, killing Cline, himself, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins).

Most recording sessions in those days were scheduled for three hours in duration, and three or four songs were expected to be completed during that time frame. But for whatever reason, it was decided from the outset that this particular session would be devoted entirely to “Crazy.” It is unclear why that decision was made or who made it, but as it turned out, there were so many problems that night, that “Crazy” was the only one they would have gotten around to anyway.

The session started out badly. Owen Bradley put Willie’s demo of “Crazy” up on the big speakers in the control room for Patsy and the musicians to hear in order to get the initial “feel” of the song so they could begin work. Patsy hadn’t yet heard the song and when she listened to the demo, she absolutely hated the Nelson tune and refused to do it. One of the famous Cline/Bradley arguments ensued, which Owen won as always, and Patsy reluctantly started work that night.

The producer decided to let Cline fit the song to suit her own style. She began by tossing out Willie’s unique phrasing (he delivered the lyrics ahead of and behind the beat, which annoyed Patsy). She also tried to smooth the song’s meter. A ballad-type arrangement was worked up, but after that was all done, it was discovered that Cline was still adversely affected by the injuries she had received in a near fatal auto accident two months earlier. Her ribs still hadn’t healed sufficiently, and the pain was prohibiting her from holding the breath to sustain some of the notes.

The session dragged on, but Patsy was unable to achieve a suitable vocal performance. Finally, over four hours later, at 11:15 PM, Cline called it a night and left, agreeing to come back and complete her vocal when she felt up to it. Bradley saved the musicians’ instrumental track, which he considered “perfect – one of the best tracks I’ve ever been associated with.”

Patsy Cline always considered overdubbing a sign of weakness. She much preferred stepping up to the microphone with all the musicians present and laying down the finished product in one take. But on this particular night, she gratefully accepted the chance to come in later after further healing of her ribs and dub her voice in, which she did just one week later. This time she nailed “Crazy” on her very first attempt.

When Willie Nelson heard the final cut, he was blown away. He would tell those at Tootsie’s, “It was magic!” Over 60 years later, Nelson still proclaims that Patsy Cline’s recording of “Crazy” is “My favorite of anything I ever wrote.”

Released in mid-fall, “Crazy” landed on the Billboard pop chart first, on November 6, 1961, and made the country listing the following week, on November 13th. It went on to peak at #2 for two weeks on the country chart in early ‘62, and provided Patsy with her only top ten pop hit, reaching #9.

Accolades for Cline’s recording are many. “Crazy” is ranked #195 on a 2021 list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” (in all genres of music) compiled by “Rolling Stone” Magazine. In 1989, the Amusement and Music Operators Association ranked “Crazy” number two on the all-time Top 40 Jukebox Singles on the United States list. By 1996, the updated list cited the song as the number one most played on jukeboxes. “Crazy” was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1992, and received a placement in the Library of Congress’ “National Recording Registry” in 2003, the highest honor a recording can achieve.