Fool and Foolish Songs
We were talking about songs with some form of the word “fool” in the title on Friday’s Jeopardy! post, and that led to looking up Fool or Foolish songs that have been in Jeopardy! clues or answers. The cluewriters seem to recycle “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “What a Fool Believes” and “Fools Rush In” more than any others we found. They also sometimes use “fools rush in” as a literary clue since it is actually from Alexander Pope’s “Essay on Criticism”. When it’s the song, it’s usually the Ricky Nelson version, but here we have the Brook Benton version:
Brook is singing live here. A totally polished performance. You can watch Ricky Nelson lip sync this song on youtube if you want. Here are the rest of the songs that have made it to Jeopardy!:
“A Fool for You” – Ray Charles
“A Fool in Love” – Ike & Tina Turner
“A Fool Never Learns” – Andy Williams
“A Fool Such as I”, “Fool” – Elvis Presley
“Chain of Fools” – Aretha Franklin
“Fool for Rock ‘n’ Roll” – Tom Jones
“Fool on the Hill” – The Beatles, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66
“Fool to Cry” – The Rolling Stones
“Foolish Pride” – Darryl Hall
“Foolish” – Ashanti
“The April Fools” – Dionne Warwick
“What a Fool Believes” – Doobie Brothers
“What Kind of Fool Am I?” Sammy Davis Jr.
“What Kind of Fool” – Barry Gibb and Barbra Streisand
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Diana Ross
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” – The Who
And we’ve got some more Fool and Foolish songs they have never used on Jeopardy, in case they’re looking for some new material. Years and years ago, Jeopardy had a couple of Connie Francis songs in their clues “Who’s Sorry Now” and “Stupid Cupid” but somehow, they ignored “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” — a much bigger hit. It was, in fact, Connie’s first No. 1.
More:
“Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy” – The Tams
“Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You” – Wilson Pickett
“Fooled Around and Fell in Love” – Elvin Bishop
“Foolish Beat” – Debbie Gibson
“Foolish Little Girl” – The Shirelles
“Foolish Lullabye” – Laura Branigan
“Fool No. 1” – Brenda Lee
“If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody” – James Ray
“Nobody but a Fool (Would Love You)” – Connie Smith
“King of Fools” – Gene Vincent
“Poor Little Fool” – Ricky Nelson
“Still A Fool” – Muddy Waters
“What Kind of Fool Am I” – Anthony Newley
“What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)” – The Tams
“She’s a Fool” – Lesley Gore – a No. 5 hit for Lesley (just like Judy’s Turn to Cry). the background was like: “just a fool, such a fool”
“Fool for the City” – Foghat. Because you never have enough guitars.
Here’s a choice bit o’ Metal lore fer ya, eric:
Track from 1986’s “The Dark” by Metal Church…
Titled “Burial at Sea” [I think of it more commonly as “Ship of Fools”]
Lyrical sampling:
Black scared and bleeding
From the lashes to my soul
I chose to stand my ground
Not do as i was told
Thinking like mindless sheep
These people were my friends
Now i feel abandoned
With a pain that never ends…
In a icy wasteland
The sun begins to set
I see the frozen corpses
Of my shipmates
On the deck…
—
Hey, I had to throw this one in since it’s a largely unknown metal classic! It’s findable on youtube.
Peace, bill
“Foolin'”- Def Leppard
” now and then there’s a fool such as i”…jim reeves.
The Elvis version is in the list of fool songs used by J.
Hank Snow did the original in ’53. Check out Pet Clark’s French version – Prends Mon Coeur.