Song Two: (You Drive Me) Crazy.

Crazy is a word that in reality means you are insane, you have taken leave of your sense and you are not normal.  It means you are abnormal to the point where you are possibly dangerous, psychotic, and by implication you should be locked away from the normal members of society.

However through our popular culture and especially music we have taken the term crazy and bludgeoned it into submission to mean something less severe, something light, something almost humorous.

Crazy is not normal, but it is not dangerous, it is not creepy, no, crazy it seems is just another emotion, and if we believe the music of the last fifty years it usually results from love.

So what sort of songs do we mean?

Well let's start with Patsy Cline and "Crazy"

 

Crazy for feeling so lonely, crazy for feeling so blue – love is driving her crazy!  She finishes by saying I'm crazy for loving you.

Then you have the Fine Young Cannibals with She Drives Me Crazy –

 

He can't help the way he feels, people call him obsessed, but he has to be with her, he wants to be free but can't be, she drives him crazy.

Tellingly he also says “I won't make it on my own, no one wants to be alone”

So being crazy is better than being alone.

 

Then there is the epic by Pink Floyd – Shine on You Crazy Diamond.

This one is different, and is apparently a tribute to Sid Barrett, who did go quite crazy after a life of alcohol, and mind altering drugs.

This is a song which truly emotes from its core and affects the listener to the depths of their being.  It is long and mostly instrumental but there is at its central part, at its guts if you like something which shakes you, and leaves you ‘exposed in the light.’

Following such a song of such magnitude and depth, where else can you turn but Gnarls Barkly  Gnarls Barkly?  Yep and his song crazy

  
 

 

This song, almost a homage to the funk movement of the seventies, seems to embrace the concept of craziness, and with its vivid imagery in the film clip of moving ink blots, and telling us I'm crazy, you're crazy, we're crazy it is a confession of all of us having some sort of collective insanity.  If we are all crazy then are none of us then by definition crazy?

So we're do you go from there, well Madonna of course and her song Crazy for You.

I remember hearing this on the radio way back in 1985.  I had moved into my own place, the first place I lived in after leaving home and I did not have a TV.  I was listening to the radio and this song came on.  It actually changed my mind on Madonna, and for some time I was quite the Madonna fan.  (the attraction faded around her whole erotica period which was more boring than anything for me)

Anyway Crazy for You was the song from the movie in Australia also called Crazy for You but apparently in the USA called Vision Quest.

The clip shows actors from the movie including Matthew Modine.

And it really is the modern understanding of crazy.  I’m crazy for you.  I just want to be with you.

You are all I want, and I lose control – why?  Because of you.

So with that we come to another movie from 1999 – Drive Me Crazy and another sound track song, with another music video from the movie – yes the second song from her debut album Britney's “You Drive Me Crazy”

The movie featured Sabrina actor Melissa Joan Hart and she is in the clip.

The word Baby drops from 25 times in Baby one more time to 7 times in this song.  32 times in two songs, will the word keep up it's average in songs to come?  One thinks not!

Anyway enough of the argy-bargy here is the song -

 I would show you the actual music video but it appears Vevo have truly taken a leaf from Warner Brothers and have blocked access to this in Australia.  

 I can show you a photo of Britney in her waitress outfit she wore in the video clip.

Anyway in case you missed them, here are the lyrics - 

Baby, I'm so into you

You got that somethin, what can I do

Baby, you spin me around

The Earth is movin, but I can't feel the ground

Every time you look at me

My heart is jumpin, it's easy to see

You drive me crazy

I just cant sleep

I'm so excited, I'm in too deep 

Ooh...crazy, but it feels alright 

Baby, thinkin of you keeps me up all night

Tell Me, you're so into me

That I'm the only one you will see 

Tell me, I'm not in the blue 

That I'm not wastin, my feelings on you 

You drive me crazy

I just cant sleep

I'm so excited, I'm in too deep 

Ooh...crazy, but it feels alright 

Baby, thinkin of you keeps me up all night

Crazy, I just can't sleep

I'm so excited, I'm in too deep

Crazy, But it feels alright

Every Day and Every Night

You drive me crazy

I just cant sleep

I'm so excited, I'm in too deep 

Ooh...crazy, but it feels alright 

Baby, thinkin of you keeps me up all night

You Drive Me Crazy (You drive me crazy baby)

Ooh..Crazy, But It Feels Alright 

Baby Thinkin of you keeps me up all night

Baby Thinkin of you keeps me up all night

What do we make of these words?

From the very first line you feel obsession –

“Baby I'm so into you.”

But with that you also feel a  temporal sense of obsession.  I'm so into you could easily become I'm so over you,

Just that one line shows us a differentiation between obsession and love.  This is not love it is something else.

She then almost qualifies her obsession by saying

“You've got that somethin what can I do?

You have something and there is nothing I can do about it.  Her obsession then becomes not her own fault but the fault of the object of her obsession. 

Classic case of shifting responsibility, and used so often isn’t it.

“She made me do it”

“He made me do it”

This is not new in fact we can trace it all the way back to the garden of Eden and the origins of sin.

God asks Adam did you eat the fruit, does he say yes and admit it, no he blames Eve, and Eve blames a serpent.

From then on people have blamed each other.  I see it in my work everyday.  People bring the wrong paper work in and when you point it out they say “oh my partner gave it to me, I'm just doing what they said”

Then Britney tells us she is out of control, and again it is the object of her obsession which is moving her.

“Baby you spin me around

The earth is movin but I can't feel the ground”

In fact she goes bananas when she sees him.

“Every time you look at me

My heart is jumpin it's easy to see”

Two things to say here, firstly I think we all have had that experience when we see someone and our hearts leap, either in joy or in dread.  This time it seems to be joy, with this kind of obsession though it can very easily and very quickly become dread.  Again this is a pointer to not being love but something else.

The other thing is the lyric ‘can't you see  Part of us, when we experience this wants to scream can't you tell that I have these feelings for you?  Notice me!!!  The other part is screaming I hope this is not obvious, please I hope I am not such an open book that you will walk all over me.

It is wanting to be noticed and clear, and yet not wanting to be too open about it all.

And then we have the chorus.

You drive me crazy

I just can't sleep.

This is an obsession which affects her sleep.  This again shows a difference with love.  Love drives out fear and anxiety and gives rest.  Obsession gives you anxiety and leaves you awake and not being able to find peace and rest.

She then says

“I'm so excited, I'm in too deep”

Wow now this is a real interesting line – excitement it is great and yet can be dangerous.

The admission of being in to deep shows she knows she is obsessed and yet she is excited about it and wants it. 

Not always, without making a generalisation, but at least sometimes people are in dangerous relationships because it is exciting and they want to be there.

She backs that up with the next two lines

“crazy, but it feels alright

Baby, thinkin of you keeps me up all night”

Her thoughts of him keep her awake.  What thoughts of someone keep you awake.  They aren't love are they?

They would be in two categories surely, a sense of wanting them, lust and ownership or perhaps fear of losing them and what I should say, and regrets over what I did or did not say before.  If it was love again it would bring rest.

Then she pleads tell me it's not just me, don't leave me hanging.  Please share these feelings.

This is why she is up all night – the admission here is fear.  The love then is not perfect, for perfect love drives out all fear.

And so the song then repeats itself to its conclusion.

It is a great melody and again a good beat and probably better than the very average teen romantic movie it is featured in.

Perhaps I am reading into it too deeply.  My friend Emily says I think too much and that is a distinct possibility here, but I can't get over the feeling as I hear these words that this person, this character is more worried about losing the other and having her feelings reciprocated than actually loving them.

Is that how we are?  Is that how our relationships are?

Love then would be more giving and more restful and less demanding and less anxiety producing.

This song for me is again out of ten a score of 

So what do you think?

And what drives you crazy?

 

Song One: ...Baby One More Time

 The first single Britney (and hey this is my second post so we are on a first name basis now!) released is also the name of her first studio album.  It is ...Baby One More Time.  Not Hit Me Baby One More Time!

Anyway why don't we have a listen to the song.

The official music video has been blocked from being used in Australia by the corporate wolves Vevo so I am posting this version.  You can see the official music video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKo4fFVymqk
So what is it all about?  Well I remember back when I was in High School and we were analysing William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.  Many people had different opinions about the novel, Golding himself said he just wrote a story, but there is a lot you can think about even when with the words of a song.

But what did Britney think the song was all about?

So Britney says it's about a guy she wished she had not broken up with.  Is there anymore to it than that?

Well let's look at the lyrics.  The song was written by Max Martin who lately has written Teenage Dream for Katy Perry and Raise Your Glass for Pink.  Born in 1971 he is certainly older than Britney and this may show us something as well.

Oh baby, baby

Oh baby, baby

Oh baby, baby

How was I supposed to know

That something wasn't right here

Oh baby, baby

I shouldn't have let you go

And now you're out of sight, yeah

Show me, how you want it to be

Tell me baby

'Cause I need to know now, oh because

[chorus:]

My loneliness is killing me (And I)

I must confess, I still believe (Still believe)

When I'm not with you I lose my mind

Give me a sign

Hit me baby one more time

Oh baby, baby

The reason I breathe is you

Boy you got me blinded

Oh pretty, baby

There's nothing that I wouldn't do

It's not the way I planned it

Show me, how you want it to be

Tell me baby

'Cause I need to know now, oh because

[chorus:]

My loneliness is killing me (And I)

I must confess, I still believe (Still believe)

When I'm not with you I lose my mind

Give me a sign

Hit me baby one more time

Oh baby, baby

Oh baby, baby

Ah, yeah, yeah

Oh baby, baby

How was I supposed to know

Oh pretty baby

I shouldn't have let you go

I must confess, that my loneliness

Is killing me now

Don't you know I still believe

That you will be here

And give me a sign

Hit me baby one more time

[chorus:]

My loneliness is killing me (And I)

I must confess, I still believe (Still believe)

When I'm not with you I lose my mind

Give me a sign

Hit me baby one more time

I must confess

(My loneliness is killing me)

That my loneliness

Is killing me now

(I must confess, I still believe)

Don't you know I still believe

That you will be here

(When I'm not with you I lose my mind)

And give me a sign

Hit me baby one more time

The first thing to mention which is not about the lyrics, but the music is how good the beat is, it really does have a good feel about it.  In someways it sounds a bit slow and there are remixes which speed it up somewhat, but it is certainly a good beat and her singing voice is very good as well, smooth and slickly produced, and accused of being like candy, but even if it is somewhat manufactured it is perfect pop.

So the words.

I was amused to hear that Justin Bieber's song Baby mentions the word Baby 54 times.  I personally don't have Bieber Fever, Britney mentions the word Baby twenty five times.  I wondered when was the first time baby was used in a song to talk about the love of someone's life?  I managed to find a song from 1912, but I wonder is there an earlier song.  All comments on this are appreciated.

 The first verse is regret, regret for the loss of someone a loved one, her baby.  

I shouldn't have let you go.  The wrong decision  was made, and she is sorry.  It is kind off strange when you compare the lyrics with the actual music video, in some ways it does not seem to match.  Britney did look fine in the video though.  Ha Ha!!

The next line of note is "My loneliness is killing me" on one level this is real teen heartbreak stuff, a whole Romeo and Juliet scenario where teens who really don't understand true love make it into life and death and not about what love essentially boils down to in the end tea and toast.  

However there is something in that loneliness does kill and so many people are dying in their own loneliness.  We have never had so many ways to connect on the social network as right now and yet so many people have pretend friendships and are inside dying of crushing loneliness.

This then is a very insightful line.  



In the Bible Jesus said to the Pharisees who were demanding a sign Jesus laid into them look at this from Matthew chapter 16

The Pharisees and Sadducee's came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

Sure again there is probably no connection but the idea of demanding a sign being a clue to a person who really doesn't believe and being adulterous is something worth thinking about?

Had the character in the song Britney was singing about not just ended the relationship but also been cheating?

It is at this point thinking way too deep into the lyrics but you know there is something worth thinking about when you demand a sign off someone what are you really demanding and why?

The next part I want to discuss is the whole verse which surrounds the adage love is blind.  She says the reason I breathe is you, that is either a massive hyperbole, a toxic commitment, or the deepest love you can ever have.

In this case I don't believe it is the real deal especially when it is followed up by 'Boy you got me blinded'  He has fooled her?  Or her own feelings for him have fooled her?  Whatever way this is saying 'love is blind' and it can be, it really can, a famous positive quote says 'love covers a multitude of sins' love being blind though is the negative extreme of that sentiment and that is where toxic relationships can really develop.

Form that point on the song basically repeats itself and then fades out and in the video you get Britney giving that smile.  This is real Mona Lisa stuff here, what does the smile mean?  I'd love to know what you think that smile means?

Over all it is a very good song, it is a slickly produced piece of pop music and in some ways it is like a bit of candy, but I think there is below the surface some ideas which can really get you thinking about relationships and about what you would demand out of others and what you think love really is.
 
I'm going to score this song out of a maximum of ten - 

I recommend it to listen to, as a piece of pop music and as something you can think and talk about. 

So What's all this about then?

Britney Spears - just the mention of her name and you have a range of responses from people, possibly as many responses as people you mention her name to.
  
Britney's first single, ...Baby One More Time was released in the USA on October 23 1998, and was a number one hit around the globe, from that point on it seems she has rarely been out of the news
.

Everyone loves (Or does not love!) Britney!  Everyone it seems has an opinion on her. 


Some say she started out the innocent every-girl teen and then slowly went down the road to overtly provocative music and a matching lifestyle.  Others claim she was provocative right from the beginning.  She has been praised and blamed for changing the fashion agenda of what we now call 'tweens' and even used as an example either of the moral bankrupt nature of our society or how the paparazzi can cause so many problems for such a young person.


She has always been regarded as someone who is very physically attractive, and there is no denying that she is certainly very beautiful and her music has been very influential to many others.

It has been over twelve years since she hit the scene and like many of us Britney has had highs and lows, the only thing for her is that her highs and lows have been viewed through the eyes of an adoring, skeptical and hateful public all at the same time.   

She has faced pressures most of us would never dace and had moments called controversial that for us would be just life.  There has been much said and covered about her life. Who could forget the emotional tears of Chris Crocker begging people to leave Britney alone!   It is right here now if you want to re-watch or even experience it for the first ever time.

This one video has had over thirty-six million people watch it, almost the entire population of Australia watching it two times each.  That is amazing!

There has also been parodies and whilst most of them are pretty poor some have actually been amusing.  Here's a parody of Britney's hit song Oops I did it Again by Weird Al Yankovich.  Very base humour to be sure, but very funny!.

Ultimately however it is all about the music and with Britney due to release her seventh studio album in 2011 there has been quite a bit of it, and so with this in mind I have decided to go back and look at Britney and to be honest as a person who has not listened to a lot of her music to explore the phenomenon that is Britney Spears.

So I will be going through her career song by song and seeing what we can make of these songs.

People have analysed the words of poets for centuries, today some people say it is not about the words but the beat of the song and how people dance, but short of songs like Barbara Streisand by Duck Sauce or the (in)famous Get Get Down by Paul Johnson  (Let me remind you of that one.  Virtually the only word in the lyrics is Down. )  words of songs can be thought about, and Britney's words may make us think about things.  It has been said that what someone says can be interpreted and be meaningful to people in different ways.

So without further ado, let's return to late 1998 and where it all began.  Each blog will reflect on one single Britney song.  I hope the ride will be interesting and I hope you can join me and share your thoughts as we look at Britney Spears in this the Britney Spears Project.
So since I am going to cover her songs I won't leave you with a song but I'll leave you with Britney singing in this awesome Pepsi commercial, and it rare that you will hear me say commercial and awesome in the same sentence.