"Crazy Blues" was written by John Henry "Perry" Bradford, who composed the music and lyrics in 1918 under the title "Harlem Blues". Written for the theatre, it uses blues choruses set within verses that are not in blues form, so it is not a straight twelve-bar blues. The original recording was made by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds on August 10, 1920, and released by Okeh Records later that year (catalogue 4169-A), with "It's Right Here For You (If You Don't Get It-'Taint No Fault O' Mine)" on the B-side. Running 3:26, it sold 75,000 copies within two months at one dollar each. It is generally considered the first blues record issued and the first significant hit in the blues genre. It made Smith the first African American woman popular singer to lead a commercial recording and opened the market for race records. The song paved the way for Ma Rainey and other Black women performers. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994 and the National Recording Registry in 2005, and was used in episode 10 of season 1 of Boardwalk Empire (2010).
