Songfacts®:

• For their 2010 album World Gone Crazy, The Doobie Brothers brought back Ted Templeman, who produced their classic albums in the '70s. Songwriting was split between guitarists Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston, with Johnston writing this track. He told Songfacts: "Part of the inspiration of 'World Gone Crazy' is the world has gotten a little nuts. And between the wars that we've had, between violence in the streets and most of the cities, what people are doing to each other around the world is not stuff that would have happened 20 years ago."
• Many of Tom Johnston's best compositions, like "Listen To The Music," come quickly when the inspiration strikes. "World Gone Crazy" was one of those songs. Said Johnston: "I sat down with that tune and it just flowed out. I wrote it on keyboards, and I just started fooling with a chord pattern and next thing I know it was fleshed out as far as where I was going with the chord change. I added the bass, and then after that the words kind of wrote themselves; bang! – they just came right out. When that happens, that is the biggest blessing on earth. Because to me the part that is always the most work is coming up with the right words."
• Guest musicians are all over the album, including Michael McDonald, Willie Nelson, Karl Perazzo and Mic Gillette. On this track, Little Feat founder Billy Payne played piano.
• World Gone Crazy debuted at #39 on the Billboard album chart, the highest rank for the Doobie Brothers since Cycles peaked at #17 in 1989. It was their 12th Top 40 charting album in total.