“I’m crazy, crazy for feeling so lonely / I’m crazy, crazy for feeling so blue,” Willie Nelson originally sang on his 1961 hit ballad, “Crazy.” The song is a little bit jazzy and a little bit bluesy, and because of its lovely blend of genres, it has been covered by dozens of artists since its release.
Most notably, the song was covered by one of the most influential singers of the 20th century, Patsy Cline. She made the cover her own with the pureness of her smooth voice and it became a No. 2 country hit in 1962.
Because of the aforementioned genre-blending, the song has been covered in many different ways and styles. But Cline’s will forever be a classic.
Back in 2014, the artist Running Lights (real name Mike) decided to cover “Crazy.” He assured everyone that he knew it was written by Nelson, but he decided to do a rendition of Cline’s famous version.
The video was directed and edited by Mike Squillante, shot by Rocco DiMase, and mixed by Nick Squillante.
The clip is shot in a very cinematic way as well. Mike could have done just a regular cover with him sitting there and looking straight into the camera lens but he decided to take the more challenging route and get a little bit artsy with it. Why not honor such a beautiful song with beautiful visuals, after all?
Mike is sitting slightly off to the side and is surrounded by his guitars and an amp — seems pretty bluesy to us, which is appropriate given the song choice. There is also a black vignette effect on the video and a glowy light overhead, which makes it feel a little bit more cinematic.
Then Mike begins to play his guitar and absolutely kills it. It’s a well-known guitar lick and he manages to hit the nail on the head, playing each note perfectly with a calm smoothness. He looks relaxed, as if he could do this all day long.
About 25 seconds into the video, Mike begins to sing. His voice is definitely different from Cline’s, but we can see how the style is similar. He continues to pluck away at the guitar as he sings and you can tell he his putting a lot of love and passion into his performance.
He also does not shy away from belting it out. When he sings, “I’m crazy, crazy for feeling so blue,” he really lets all of his feelings out and holds out certain words so that they make more of an impact.
He belts it out, but it is still very controlled. He adds a slightly more masculine edge to her rendition as well, which makes it feel slightly refreshing and new.
As the 3 minute-long video continues, the camera zooms in very, very slowly. By the end, Mike is more up close and it makes for a very fittingly dramatic vibe!
The rest of the Internet was swooning when it was uploaded. It has gotten thousands of views and it is easy to see why — Mike is super smooth!
Watch it for yourself below.
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