“Patty Andrews, the lead singer of the Andrews sisters group was born in Mound, Minnesota on February 16, 1918 in a house that occupied the property where The Gillespie Center stands today.
During the 1920’s Laverne, Maxene and Patty Andrews spent their summers in Mound, living with their parents in a house across the street from the grocery store that was owned by Pete and Ed Sollie, bachelor uncles of the three girls. (Today, Green T Accounting occupies the Sollie grocery store building and The Gillespie Center is on the land where the Andrews Sisters’ house once stood.)” - From a commentary by Tom Rockvam that appeared in The Laker Newspaper during 2005.
They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring on Vaudeville, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937. Their music entertained Allied troops worldwide during World War II, sold war bonds, appeared in several films (including a few Abbott and Costello features), and performed for soldiers serving overseas. Their first film with Abbott and Costello, the pre-war comedy Buck Privates, introduced their best-known recording, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" which would win Best Song at the Academy Awards.
They also recorded many songs with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and other popular artists of the era. Their popularity was such that after the war they discovered that some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany after the labels had been changed to read "Hitler's Marching Songs."
After a brief hiatus after the war, the sisters regrouped, performing in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They broke up in 1953, with Patty's choice to go solo. Their last appearance together was in 1962 on The Dean Martin Show. Laverne, who had cancer, retired soon after; she died five years later, in 1967 at the age of 55.
After a long silence, the two surviving sisters had something of a comeback when Bette Midler recorded a cover of their song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Maxene and Patty appeared both together and separately throughout the 1970s, with Maxene releasing a solo album in 1986. Their most notable comeback; however, was in the Sherman Brothers' nostalgic World War II musical: "Over Here!" which premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 1974. The musical featured the two then living sisters (Maxene and Patty) and was written with them in mind for the leads. It launched the careers of many, now notable theater and film icons (John Travolta, Marilu Henner, Ann Reinking, et al). Ironically it was the last major hurrah of the sisters and was cut short due to a frivolous lawsuit initiated by Patty's husband to the show's producers.
Throughout their long career, the sisters had sold over 60 million records. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
The last of the three sisters Patty Andrews died of natural causes at her home in Northridge, California on January 30, 2013, just 17 days before her 95th birthday. The sisters were interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, close to their parents.
Crazy Arms
The Andrews Sisters Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I'll move the mountains
If he wants them out of the way
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, I'd say
I say I'll go through fire
As he wants it, so it will be
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, you see
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
The Andrews Sisters' "Crazy Arms" is a love song that expresses intense devotion and loyalty. The song's protagonist declares that she'll do anything for her love, even move mountains and go through fire. She admits that her love for him may seem crazy to others, but to her, it is an all-consuming passion.
The lyrics are filled with metaphors that convey the depth of the singer's feelings. She compares her love for him to the wind that shakes the bough and says that he moves her with a smile. The difficult tasks she'll do right away, but the impossible will take a little bit longer. Finally, she declares that she'll care for him forever and that she'll hold up the sky if she has to.
Overall, the lyrics of "Crazy Arms" are a testament to the power of love and the lengths people will go to for the ones they love.
Line by Line Meaning
I say I'll move the mountains
I promise to do the impossible
And I'll move the mountains
I will make the impossible happen
If he wants them out of the way
Whatever he wishes for, I will do it for him
Crazy, he calls me
He thinks I'm insane for promising to do challenging tasks
Sure I'm crazy
I might be a bit crazy for him
Crazy in love, I'd say
I'm completely and foolishly in love with him
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He has the power to move me
He moves me with a smile
His smile has an immense impact on me
The difficult I'll do right now
I can do what's challenging immediately
The impossible will take a little while
It may take some time to do what's impossible, but I'll get it done eventually
I say I'll care forever
I promise to always care for him
And I mean forever
My care for him is everlasting
If I have to hold up the sky
I will do anything and everything for him, no matter how demanding
Crazy, he calls me
He still thinks I'm out of my mind for loving him so deeply
Sure I'm crazy
I may be a bit insane for him, but I can't help it
Crazy in love am I
I'm madly in love with him
Writer(s): Ralph Eugene Mooney, Chuck Seals
Contributed by Thomas M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
J Parker
And I'll move the mountains
If he wants them out of the way
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, I'd say
I say I'll go through fire
And I'll go through fire
As he wants it, so it will be
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, you see
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
sonichits has completely wrong lyrics for this song. Correct ones are - Now blue ain't the word for the way that I feel
And the storm's brewing in this heart of mine
This is no crazy dream I know that it's real
You're someone else's love now you're not mine
Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
Please take the treasured dreams I have for you and me
And take all the love I thought was mine
Someday my crazy arms will hold somebody new
But now I'm so lonely all the time
interlude
Crazy arms that reach to hold someone new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon that you soon will be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
Crazy arms and lonely all the time
Bluejeans0701
Thanks very much for posting this clip. The Andrews Sisters are really amazing, especially the youngest Patty is peerless. No wonder she wanted to pursue a solo career with her distinctive voice. I wonder how she is doing now.
Wayne Brasler
Both Patty's singles for Capitol and the Andrews Sisters singles which followed were amazingly venturesome and even ventured into rock. They didn't merely repeat what they had done a decade before but tried new ideas. Some of the most interesting singles went unreleased. Their three albums for Capitol all made money for the label, with "Fresh and Fancy Free" placing them in a Four Freshman framework effectively Then Dot grabbed them and made a lot of money with the Sisters, remarkably.
VictrolaJazz
You can still hear the 40's influence in their style! Kind of like the Dorsey brothers last hit So Rare in 1956, then they were both dead with six months of each other.
VictrolaJazz
Thanks! And they had both barely hit 50! Jimmy 1904-1957, Tommy 1905-1956! Think how many rock musicians are now in their late 60's! What is so ironic is that both the Dorseys represented the Zenith of the big-band era which was coming to a close and died in the very years that Rock 'n Roll was being born--seems almost foreordained!
Bluejeans0701
After I wrote my previous comment, I learned that Patty Andrews had been deceased last month. How stupid I was to leave such a senseless comment below! Of course I wrote that on the premise that she was still alive. May God rest her in peace. Gone as she is to be reunited with her sisters, her legend will keep glittering forever and so does her two sisters'.
Jamie Freed
If it was possible, this sound could have been made in the 70's. It isn't possible, because LaVerne Andrews died in 1968, though
CatsPjamas1
@VictrolaJazz I agree, you can definitely hear the '40's style fused with the contemporary.
CatsPjamas1
@azw596 You're welcome, it's a fascinating recording to be sure!
oldie1946
So maybe they they couldn't chart in the rock and roll era but they were still the cats pajamas.