Crazy Songs to think about 'till the New Year comes

Each of them comes from psychoanalytical canon of U2 :

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind.”
“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.”
“Walk On.”

Each transcends an emotional progression, from anguish to release, and starting with the early mother-issue expressiveness of “I Will Follow,” and continuing through the obsessive coping strategies of “Bad,” - with its “If I could, yes I would / If I could, I would / Let it go” refrain - U2’s maturity and desire are meeting one another in a healthy place.

The lesson to be learned, it seems, is in the acknowledgment that somewhere along the line we’ve lost our way (if not our minds).
With that realization as our ally, we can start working to get it back.
How we lost it, or whether we ever really had it, is something that’s been reflected in pop music for generations.

In 1965, the Rolling Stones proclaimed themselves bound for kooksville with their album “Out of Our Heads,” following it up with the frenzied guitar crunch of “19th Nervous Breakdown.”

Jimi Hendrix countered with “Manic Depression,” and The Count Five with “Psychotic Reactions.”
Ever since Willie Nelson penned the ode “Crazy” - popularized by Patsy “I Fall to Pieces” Cline - it’s been a musical free-for-all.

The insidious worm of disorder penetrated the normally resilient metallic armor of ‘70s rock monsters.
Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” the New York Dolls’ “Personality Crisis,” and Slade’s “Mama, We’re All Crazy Now,” were all affected.

It took the mellow hands of Melanie to finally confront the madness. She swatted at the beast with her folk guitar in the tune “Psychotherapy,” sung to the melody of “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah,” no less.

The Grammy Awards have honored their own list of mentally imbalanced odes.
In 1966, Wes Montgomery won Best Instrumental Jazz Performance for the song “Going Out of My Head.” The following year John Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind” won for Folk Performance.

Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” garnered Album of the Year in 1975, and “A Wild And Crazy Guy” netted Steve Martin the 1978 top comedy recording.

Since the 1980s, the use of the word “crazy” has been Grammy-victorious no less than four different times, creating new fodder for The Judds (“Mama He’s Crazy”),
Metallica (“Stone Cold Crazy”), Aerosmith (“Crazy”) and TLC (“Crazysexycool”).

If all this crazy talk is making you nuts, relax. It probably bodes well for our progress as a people that our delusions, hallucinations and hyper-maniacal episodes are being transcended-
at least in Grammy world - with a nod to the healing.
Coping strategies for mental maladies are already finding a home in the pop culture marketplace by way of relaxation discs and “good mood” tapes.
Personally, I’m waiting for my Paxil Rose T-shirt.

by Thomas Dimopoulos
The Saratogian