Most Requested Pop Songs For Fools
Top April Fools’ Day Pop Hits Include Cathy’s Clown & Chain Of Fools
Dec 9, 2008
While April 1 is notorious for April Fools’ Day gags, tricks and hoaxes, this collection of fool songs is popular year-round principally because, in matters of the heart, most people do silly things.
Some fool songs like Judy Collins’ Send In The Clowns express sadness, while anthems like the Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again are defiant.
The Main Ingredient’s Everybody Plays The Fool is philosophical in its acceptance of the inevitability of foolish behavior.
Perhaps Tunes like the Capitols’ Cool Jerk and the Monkees’ I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone best exemplify what music for April Fools’ Day is all about: fun.
Top 10 Fool Pop Songs
Smokey Robinson wrote Tears Of A Clown after Stevie Wonder gave him a circus-sounding demo tape at a Motown Christmas party. Send In The Clowns is a phrase used when an unforeseen disaster occurs at a circus, when clowns are sent in to distract the audience from the problem. Cathy’s Clown laments a guy whom everyone sees as a fool because of how badly his girl treats him. In I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone, Micky Dolenz sings about how a girl has made a fool out of a man who’s not going to take it anymore.
- Tears Of A Clown (Smokey Robinson) … Number 6 most-requested song from 1970
- Send In The Clowns (Judy Collins) … Number 10 from 1975
- Cathy's Clown (Everly Brothers) … Number 12 from 1960
- I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone (Monkees) … Number 29 from 1967
- Everybody Plays The Fool (The Main Ingredient) … Number 31 from 1972
- Cool Jerk (the Capitols) … Number 36 from 1966
- Chain Of Fools (Aretha Franklin) … Number 39 from 1968
- Won't Get Fooled Again (the Who) … Number 39 from 1971
- Foolish (Ashanti) … Number 50 from 2002
- Jerk-Out (The Time) … Number 50 from 1990
Aretha Franklin’s Chain Of Fools is about a woman who realizes she is just one of her boyfriend's many lovers, yet foolishly sticks with him even though she knows their relationship is hopeless. Pete Townsend wrote Won’t Get Fooled Again about a revolution in which the conquering regime becomes just as corrupt as the old one. Ashanti’s lyrics in Foolish deals with another type of foolish cycle in which she is heartbroken by a lover who continually makes a fool of her.
Other Pop Music Fool Songs
Styx Fooling Yourself explores an angry, self-deluded introvert. Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones wrote lyrics for Stupid Girl at a time when he was involved with a multitude of depressingly shallow groupies.
- Fooling Yourself – Angry Young Man (Styx) … Number 52 from 1978
- Stupid Girl (Garbage) … Number 55 from 1996
- Everybody Plays The Fool (Aaron Neville) … Number 55 from 1991
- Lovefool (The Cardigans) … Number 61 from 1997
- Mayor Of Simpleton – XTC (The Time) … Number 68 from 1989
- Fool For The City (Foghat) … Number 72 from 1976
- What A Fool Believes (Doobie Brothers) … Number 74 from 1979.
In What A Fool Believes, Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald wrote the lyrics “There's nothing at all, but what a fool believes he sees .” This is probably one of the most incisive quotes for pranksters to call out after they’ve play a gag on an unsuspecting victim.
Author’s Choice For Best Fool Pop Song
Although Fool On The Hill wasn’t a hit for the Beatles after it was released in 1967, Paul McCartney’s song offers hope for fools around the world. The lyrics describe a man whose foolish demeanor is actually an indication of wisdom, although he is considered a fool by others.
Sources for this Article
This article presents independent calculations and insights based on Pop Music Charts song data presented by Pop Culture Madness and songfacts.com.
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