About The Song
“Middle Age Crazy” is a song written by Sonny Throckmorton and recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released as a single in 1977 on Mercury Records (catalog number 55011). The B-side was “Georgia on My Mind.” The track appears as the opening song on Lewis’s 1977 studio album Country Memories. It was produced by Jerry Kennedy and runs approximately 3 minutes and 52 seconds.
Sonny Throckmorton composed the song. Lewis recorded it during sessions for Country Memories in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1976–1977. Producer Jerry Kennedy prepared a pre-recorded instrumental track featuring session pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins on piano rather than Lewis himself. Lewis overdubbed his vocal in a single take. The session coincided with one of Lewis’s early hospitalizations; Kennedy later noted that Lewis appeared pale during the vocal session. Lewis later recalled learning the song at home, bringing it to Nashville, and completing the vocal in one take after Kennedy had already assembled the backing tracks and voices.
The single was issued in 1977 and entered the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. Chart data place its debut in late October 1977. It also reached number 3 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. The parent album Country Memories peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
This single represented one of Lewis’s final major commercial successes during his extended tenure with Mercury Records. Lewis had moved into a country-focused phase of his career after earlier rock and roll success. Prior Mercury country singles in the mid-1970s had included top-ten and top-twenty entries. “Middle Age Crazy” was followed by the Bobby Braddock-penned “Come On In,” which also reached the top ten on the country chart. Lewis left Mercury shortly afterward and signed with Elektra Records.
The recording features standard Nashville session instrumentation of the period under Kennedy’s production. The arrangement supports Lewis’s vocal over a mid-tempo country framework. Piano duties on the track were handled by Hargus “Pig” Robbins. The song later inspired a 1980 feature film of the same title starring Bruce Dern and Ann-Margret, directed by John Trent and released by 20th Century Fox. The film’s screenplay was based on the song.
Chart documentation from Billboard confirms the number-4 peak on the Hot Country Singles chart in 1977. Canadian RPM data list a number-3 peak on the country chart. Album chart position for Country Memories is verified at number 21 on the Billboard Top Country Albums survey. Production credits list Jerry Kennedy. Songwriting is credited solely to Sonny Throckmorton across official releases and discography sources. The single’s catalog number and B-side are confirmed by Mercury Records release data and Discogs catalog entries.
Session accounts from producer Jerry Kennedy and from Lewis himself describe the pre-recorded track method and the single-take vocal overdub. The track is documented as the lead single from the 1977 album and as Lewis’s last significant chart hit on the Mercury label before his departure. These production, release, and chart details align with Mercury Records catalog information, Billboard archives, and contemporary discography references for Lewis’s late-1970s country recordings.
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Lyric
Today he traded his big 98 Oldsmobile He got a heck of a deal On a new Porsche car He ain't wearing his usual grey business suit He's got jeans and high boots With an embroidered star An' today he's forty years old going on twenty Don't look for the grey in his hair 'Cause he ain't got any He's got a young thing beside him That just melts in his hand He's middle aged crazy Trying to prove he still can He's got a woman he's loved for a long, long time at home Ah but the thrill is all gone When they cut down the lights They've got a business that they spent a while coming by Been a long uphill climb But now the profits are high But today he's forty years old going on twenty And he hears of sordid affairs and he ain't had any And the young thing beside him You know she understands That he's middle aged crazy Trying to prove he still can