My 100 Favorite Charted Pop Songs: Crazy Love

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You’re in the midst of being subjected to my most ambitious countdown ever: the dual lists of my all-time favorite songs to have made Billboard magazine’s “Hot 100” and “Top Country Singles” charts. “They” say if you listen to a song that a person loves you’ll understand that person. I don’t know what you’re going to get out of listening to these 200 tunes. Anyway, here’s today’s song from the “Hot 100” list. Crazy Love - Poco It’s Poco’s BIGGEST HIT!!!!! And given that this only scraped into the top 20, that’s not saying much, is it. I’m sure a lot of people saw Poco as “a poor man’s Eagles,” but in reality they predated the Eagles’ start by four years. Additionally, both of the Eagles’ bass players — current bassist Timothy B. Schmit and the late Randy Meisner, the original bass player — came from Poco. Maybe it’s more accurate to call the Eagles “the manic-depressive man’s Poco.” Take this song, for instance. While you know the opening line, “Tonight I’m gonna break away, just you wait and see,” is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of the narrator, the way they present it makes it sound downright joyful. That’s one of the main differences between Poco and the Eagles. The only Eagles song you could consider to be “happy” is “Already Gone,” which they didn’t write (Jack Tempchin wrote it). Even when Poco presented break-up songs (like “Bad Weather” from From the Inside), it sounded happy. I wish Poco had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because they were far more influential on country-rock than the Eagles ever were. In fact, I’ll go as far to say there wouldn’t have been an Eagles without Poco. Alas, with three members deceased (Rusty Young and Paul Cotton died four months apart and Randy Meisner died last year), it’s too late to give them their proper due. Crazy Love Written by Rusty Young Recorded by Poco From Legend, 1978 Peak chart position: #17 Today’s country song: “Borrowed Angel” Count the stars in a summer sky: