Gary Nicholson, “Same Kind Of Crazy”

If you’ve seen Crazy Heart or heard the T Bone Burnett-helmed soundtrack (which nabbed an Oscar for Burnett and Ryan Bingham’s “The Weary Kind”), then, chances are, you’ve probably had Gary Nicholson’s standout tune “Fallin’ & Flyin’” stuck in your head for days. Nicholson wrote that one with the late Stephen Bruton, a fellow Texan, and on his new solo album, Texas Songbook, Nicholson again pays homage to his home state.

In an interview with American Songwriter, Nicholson shares the story behind the song “Same Kind Of Crazy,” which appears on his new album, out June 21 on Ray Benson’s Bismeaux Records. Nicholson explains how the song missed the cut for George Strait’s Troubadour album and nearly missed making it onto Twang, plus the story behind Stait’s live vocal take on the track.

“The inspiration for ‘Same Kind of Crazy’ came from Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. In one of his writings, he describes meeting a movie actor in the 1940s on a train. The actor was making quite a display of his disgust at being seated across from a long haired Indian swami in an ocher robe. As the trip wore on, Yogananda engaged the actor in conversation saying something like, ‘We are all a little crazy in our own ways, I understand your craziness but you don’t understand my craziness, but if we discuss our differences and you convince me that your craziness is better than mine, I will become a movie actor, but if you see the value in my kind of craziness then you will agree to follow my spiritual teachings.’ The actor became a discple.

“So that got me onto the idea of a guy saying he had found a girl that was the same kind of crazy as him. I also wrote another song with Delbert called ‘My Kind Of Crazy,’ which was recorded by John Anderson. The first version of ‘Same Kind Of Crazy’ I wrote with my dear friend and great songwriter Kimmie Rhodes, but we never finished it and I wound up taking the idea to Delbert and he came up with some of my favorite lines in the song like ‘she talks in her sleep but she always gets my name right,’ and of course his singing always makes a song come alive.

“The recording of ‘Same Kind Of Crazy’ by George Strait is another story. I pitched the Delbert version to Tony Brown and he loved it and played it for George and they planned to cut it for the Troubadour record. Tony’s assistant at the time was Erin McAnally, daughter of Mac McAnally, and very close friends with my son Travis. She called the night before they were scheduled to record the song saying that they had played it for the studio band and charted it and planned to start with it the next morning. I was excited because a Strait cut is always a big deal and it had been awhile since I had one. But the next morning we got the call from Erin to say so sorry but they didn’t cut it after all, something changed overnight and they decided to go with something else.

“So a year goes by and it’s time for George to record again. I pitched Tony what I had but nothing stuck. But at the end of the sessions when all the players thought they were finished George said wait a minute I’ve got one more and they cut ‘Same Kind Of Crazy’ in one take, with George getting the vocal when they cut the track and surprising even Tony Brown who had not heard George tackle that kind of song before. It’s on the Twang CD. When we recorded Delbert’s version we took some time looking for a crazy keyboard sound for the solo played by Kevin McKendree. We eventually just cranked the Leslie [rotating speaker] all the way up for a very distorted B3 sound. On Strait’s version there is an organ solo played by Steve Nathan that is the only organ solo ever on a Strait record. ‘Same Kind Of Crazy’ has also been recorded by Del McCoury and Patty Loveless.

“For Strait’s new record, he surprised us again by recording ‘Lone Star Blues,’ which he had recorded previously for another record and didn’t use. When I was pitching to Tony for this record he said don’t play me anything with Texas in it, George is tired of Texas songs, so I didn’t pitch it, but George remembered it from before and once again it was the last song they cut for his upcoming record.

“I had to record these two songs for my Texas record because of all the history and because they’re just fun to play.”

“Same Kind Of Crazy”

Did you ever meet somebody that likes all the same things you do?
Somebody who can make you or break you anytime they want to
I met her at a red light, love at first sight, can this be true?
She’s good for me and she told me I was good for her too

Now, I don’t want to jump into anything
I’ve been tryin’ to use some self restraint
But man it’s amazin’
She’s the same kind of crazy as me

Wild, wild nights, chasin’ each other through the moonlight
My, my, my, I finally got somethin’ right

‘Cause every little off-beat move she makes
Suits me to a tee
You know what I’m sayin’
She’s the same kind of crazy as me

It’s gettin’ hard to use a ladder ’cause I keep climbin’ down just to kiss her
‘Cause she’s out of my sight for a minute or two, I start to miss her
We stay all tangled up in each other’s arms and it’s so nice
She talks in her sleep but she always gets my name right

If there’s anything at all that’s wrong with her
It’s somethin’ that I can’t see
Ain’t no doubt about it
She’s the same kind of crazy as me

Wild, wild nights, chasin’ each other through the moonlight
My, my, my, I finally got somethin’ right

‘Cause every little off-beat move she makes
Suits me to a tee
You know what I’m sayin’
She’s the same kind of crazy as me

You know what I’m sayin’
She’s the same kind of crazy as me

Written by Gary Nicholson and Delbert McClinton