I Go Crazy

The song is kind of fun. But it feels more like a jam session than a proper Queen song. That kind of song has been made 1000s of times. I fully understand that it didnt make the album.

I love the sheer bombastic vibe of the song. You can clearly hear the boys having fun here.

Great info!!! Thank you

The song had its real genesis during the Hot Space sessions, and specifically when Bowie dropped in. It was originally, as Golden Salmon says, called "I Don't Wanna Be A Rolling Stone" at that point.



It's fairly well-documented that there were some creative differences between Bowie and the boys in Montreux, and here's where it gets interesting. It seems that after that experience, Brian reworked the lyrics to be all about Bowie, and what a shit he was during those sessions.



Those lyrics, with the song still being title "I Don't Wanna Be A Rolling Stone" were published in the official illustrated lyrics book that came out in the early 2010s(?) and contain the line "you better stay away from me Bowie" (although it looks like the 'Bowie' was amended to 'Blowie' by hand later).



The original anti-Bowie lyrics, as published in that book, were:



We had a little party,

With the man who stole the blow,

I played a little song 'n' said you can play along,

He said that's NOT how it should go,

You sucked a little blood just before you spat,

You took a bit of this and a bit of that,

To think I nearly let you get away with all that

(oh no, not you)



CHORUS

All I gotta do is think about you,

Every night 'n' day I go crazy

All I gotta do is get my hands on you,

You better stay away from me Bowie.



I wouldn't mind the milkman,

I wouldn't mind the dude,

And if the cleaner came along and wiped the tape,

It wouldn't put me in a bad mood.



Said a Rolling Stone wasn't where it's at,

But you thought that you were better than a Rolling Stone,

(You thought you just had to be)

Of course, you're such a god, you're way above all that,

You had to do your act like a real spoilt brat,



CHORUS (Crazy, crazy)



Now I don't want to hurt you,

The way you hurt-a-me,

But you know I'll be watching, interestedly,

The next time you're on T.V.,

For you'll be back in your life, and I'll in mine,

And I can jump for joy [...]

It's the bulk eraser[?] for the bad memory.



CHORUS


Of course, these lyrics were changed and the song reworked, again, to become the I Go Crazy that was released in 1984. 

Quite a backstory that one!

Full details here on QZ.

For all we know, he could've disliked those ones too.

There was a convention in Italy, I think, where Mack showed the tracksheet from Basing Street Studios. All it shows is that there were sessions for that song which took place in December 1982; it doesn't mean said sessions included anything found in the final mix and it doesn't mean said sessions featured all instrumentation and vocals.

It’s hard to believe the guys didn’t like this song, I think it’s great! It’s so much fun, great energy and lyrics, I am amazed they would choose others over this one.

Bumping a very, very old thread, but I discovered something that might clue us in more to the recording origin of 'I Go Crazy' – and it's been hiding in plain sight for 13 years. In the 2011 Works CD reissue, there's a credit for additional engineering on 'I Go Crazy' to Nigel Mills. Some deeper digging finds he was a studio engineer at Island Studios – which was renamed Basing Street Studios in 1975, and then Sarm West Studios around 1982.


Brian revealed in a late 1982 interview with Kerrang that "we're going into Basing Street to put down a couple of tracks and see how they turn out. We've got a couple of heavy numbers in mind – we thought we'd try something a bit more natural and see how it comes out. In fact we're actually planning some kind of heavy compilation LP, which may or may not have some live tracks as well as the ones we'll be doing soon, for early next year." A live-in-the-studio instrumental take of 'I Go Crazy' from these sessions was played at the 2006 Dutch fan club convention, and doesn't sound too far off from the finished version.



So it seems that 'I Go Crazy' was recorded partially (or entirely) at Sarm West in December 1982. (The vocals, lead and backing, may have been added during the Works sessions; as Bob noted almost four years ago, Freddie's voice definitely sounds closer to The Works-era than it does the end of the Hot Space tour, but whether it was recorded in Los Angeles or Munich is another mystery.)

Of course this may be common knowledge and I'm just out of the loop, as I didn't buy any of the 2011 CD reissues, but this is the first instance I'm seeing Nigel's name in relation to 'I Go Crazy'. It's sometimes frustrating, sometimes fun, to try to piece together Queen's recording sessions...

Still amazed at the acidic lyrics, I wonder what happened between the Bowie-sessions in 1981 and Bowie reciting the Lords Prayer at the FM-tribute. Either he never got to read these lyrics or they had a good laugh over it and then moved on.

Brian does a pretty good job at hiding his ego, but working with someone who lets it roam free-- Im sure that wasnt fun to be involved with, looking into the face of your own dark side. In spite of his charm, I'm sure Bowie was not easy to work with, plus tensions within the band were pretty high at that point to begin with.

Business, that's what probably happened.  Brian has made a few little comments about Bowie reciting the Lords Prayer, but both Queen and Bowie are/were savvy enough to know not to disparage each other in public even if they had wanted to.  

Probably not, I'm not even sure they surfaced before Bowie died. It's just the idea that he performed at the Freddie-tribute with at least one Queen member who apparently hated his guts. I wouldn't do a very good job of hiding that, let alone perform with him in front of a live and TV audience of millions. 

Talking about coincidences!
I heard this track yesterday (and listen to it for 25+ years) and thought that sample sounded like Brian, but didn't find anything about it.
Very odd indeed.
Just as odd that I never thought that this is Brian until yesterday.

How could a sample be a "dig"