Story of the song: Crazy in Love by Beyoncé

From The Independent archive: Robert Webb explores how a 1970s riff helped land Beyoncé a Grammy

At first, Beyoncé couldn’t see how they could do anything with the blaring fanfare (Getty Images for Coachella)

It was Beyoncé Knowles herself who pinpointed what made “Crazy in Love” one of the most infectious hits of 2003: “It's the horn hook.” She added that the song’s “go-go feel” also has an old-school soul charm about it. The riff was sampled from a long-forgotten Chi-Lites’ cut, “Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)”, written by the vocal group’s falsetto frontman, Eugene Record, and first issued more than a decade before Beyoncé was born.

Rich Harrison, who wrote and produced “Crazy in Love”, had treasured the sample long before he met the Texan singer. He knew he could do something special with it, and was reluctant to leak it to the wrong artist. “I hadn’t shopped it much – you don’t want to come out of the bag before it’s right,” he told MTV. “I held on until I got the call from B.”

Beyoncé had most of her album Dangerously in Love in the can when her label postponed release. The delay allowed her to record more songs. A phone call was made to Harrison and the pair agreed to meet up in the studio. Harrison arrived with the Chi-Lites in his pocket. At first, Beyoncé couldn’t see how they could do anything with the blaring fanfare. It seemed too retro: no one used horn riffs anymore. She loved the sound and eventually gave him the green light. “Now write the song,” she said, heading off. “I’ll be back in two hours.” Harrison, though a seasoned songwriter, baulked at writing a song in his lunch break.

Two hours later, Harrison had woven some verses around the hook and scored a backing track. Beyoncé filled in with a middle eight, and inspired the title when she glanced in the mirror: “I kept saying, ‘I’m looking crazy right now’.” Beyoncé’s partner, Jay-Z, heard the track and worked out a rap in 10 minutes. The track spawned numerous remixes and took a Grammy for best R&B song, an award shared with Record, the hook’s originator, who sadly died the following year.