Went Crazy

Version one - BBC Session for John Peel, recorded 2nd October 1979, available on "Peel Sessions Plus" and "Kilimanjaro" deluxe edition

Julian Cope - bass, vocals

Ged Quinn - organ

Mick Finkler - guitar

Gary Dwyer - drums

Version two - "Kilimanjaro" album (original issue), recorded Spring 1980, released October 1980

Julian Cope -.vocals, bass

David Balfe - organ, piano

Mick Finkler - guitar

Gary Dwyer - drums

Hurricane Smith, Ray Martinez - Trumpets

Version three - remix of version two, "Kilimanjaro" album (zebra cover), recorded Spring 1980, released Spring 1981

Julian Cope -.vocals, bass

David Balfe - organ, piano

Mick Finkler - guitar

Gary Dwyer - drums

Hurricane Smith, Ray Martinez - Trumpets

Written by Cope / Dwyer / Finkler

"Went crazy" is a song which appeared pretty much fully formed as soon as it entered the Teardrop Explodes' setlists in June 1979. Alongside the other songs first recorded for the band's first Peel session in October of that year it shows a leap forward in the style and content of songwriting. This may be because some parts of the song had been gestating for a few years, and maybe a lot further back than that.

The Peel session version is crisp, clean and cool - a typical Teardrop song of the era then. It starts with Finkler's guitar riff before the rhythm section kick in - Cope's bass in descending bouncing notes, almost disco, and Quinn's organ plays simple patterns. The instrumental bridge after each iteration of the title is neatly executed, and after the third verse it goes nicely psychedelic - waves of phased droning organ, rolling toms, more descending bass runs and Cope chanting in his plummiest English tones. Two more verses and the song's over. A perfect pop moment then.

In "Head on" Cope says the song was inspired by a number of different ideas. He'd been reading books about Vietnam, he cites "'Nam" by Mark Baker and another book called "From five miles up". Now I can't find any evidence of this book's existence, from an ISBN number or anything else, so either he misremembered the title or it doesn't exist. (Doesn't help that googling the title brings up the instrumental on "Zoology" mentioned a few posts back). Anyway this book has a chapter titled "Went crazy", about how soldiers would lose their mind. Cope also states the middle section lyric was stolen from the US military - but he changed "bastard" to "blighter" to highlight the Englishness of the song. However that chant goes back further than that. 

The "If you have a daughter" couplet can be traced back to the traditional sea shanty "Bell bottom trousers", a tale of a lusty sailor and a poor innocent lady who ends up with child. At which point the sailor says to the lady "If you have a daughter bounce her on your knee, if you have a son send the bastard off to sea". "Bell bottom trousers" seems to share some history with older songs too - the main verses and story can be traced to "Rosemary Lane" (which has been sung by Anne Briggs in the 60s) and "He called for a candle" (sung by Martin Carthy in the early 70s), both songs date from the 18th century though neither include the lines used in "Went crazy". As for the military provenance, it looks like the 10th Mountain Division of the US army adapted the song into "Ninety pounds of rucksack" which became their official fighting / drinking song. This is pretty much the same song as "Bell bottom trousers" but up a mountain. (I wonder if the mountain is Kilimanjaro?)

Anyway, enough history. The final verse of "Went crazy" is another steal, but a little closer to home. Back in late 70s Liverpool, a certain clique of friends became The Nova Mob, a group whose raison d'etre was to annoy people and make Big In Japan split up. It was Cope, Pete Wylie, Budgie and more. It was another theoretical band - one of many of the era. However they called their own bluff by playing one gig at Eric's. They played one song, one riff, for fifteen minutes and then split up. The lyrics of their one and only song?

"We're in love with beauty

We're in love with wealth

We're in love with mental health"

The lyrics on "Went crazy" are excellent, to be honest. Full of fast scene changes, paranoia and pain, they're eminently quotable. I have to admit the opening line of the fourth verse has been bouncing around my head this past week more than ever as various Tories gaslight the public about parties at No 10 which may or may not have happened... "Fun and games and laughter for the chosen few" indeed. 

When it came to recording "Went crazy" for their debut album, it became slightly more complicated. The album was originally recorded in the Spring of 1980, and by June of that year Cope was apologising to audiences at live shows about how the album wasn't released yet. But Cope does say "Went crazy" will be the opening track on the album whenever it gets released. The live arrangement of "Went crazy" is pretty much the same as the Peel session version at this point. However the rerecording of the album after Finkler's sacking and with the addition of trumpets turned "Went crazy" into a belting fan favourite, and ideal candidate to open side two of the album ("Ha ha I'm drowning" being the perfect opening cut). Some of the original organ parts were moved to trumpet parts, some additional organ parts were added - the simple melody leading back into the verses works as an additional hook alongside the trumpets, Finkler's repeating guitar riff (which ricochets back and forth with an occasional answering phrase) and the title phrase, there's a psychedelic wash of organ as the song fades in, heralded by the first trumpet call. There's little about Cope's vocal phrasing which has changed, though he sounds more committed to the performance now - the way he drags the final "crazy" out into a semi-hoarse four syllable stretch tops a great performance all round. 

Once the album was released, "Went crazy" was briefly considered as a single - it was introduced as their forthcoming single at the Leicester stop of their Daktari tour of Autumn 1980, which is odd considering they had "Reward" in the bag by this point. I really can't imagine it as a single but it's a great album track and side two starter.

When the chance came to rejig "Kilimanjaro" after the success of "Reward" a number of songs were remixed and "Went crazy" is one of the most noticeably changed. The sound is wider and deeper, more reverb in the general psychedelic phasing wash and the answering guitar riffs are used more sparingly. It works well, to be honest. It's odd that Finkler was sacked in the summer of 1980 for playing "clunky guitar riffs" yet still appears on the majority of "Kilimanjaro", playing riffs as simple yet effective as these throughout the album. "Went crazy" was played live from mid 1979 to the end of the UK tour in the summer of 1981, getting one final play at the filmed concert in Nottingham in August though not included in the home video of the performance issued a year later. It would not be played live again. This is a shame as it's speedy paranoia made for an excellent burst of energy, and it still does all these years later.