Main Ingredient "Everybody Plays the Fool"

When my high school sweetheart broke up with me to "focus on her studies" and then turned around and got engaged to a her friend from college who always used to call her and ask if she was still dating "that guy" (me), I experienced my first real heartbreak. The breakup kicked me in the balls and knocked me down for a number of years -- after all, I envisioned us marrying and having a couple kids and cats. It was my first real girlfriend and the sting of life without her paralyzed me. I refused to move on because I was convinced she was "the one". Like most wounds, time helped heal mine and I eventually moved on but, man, those were some dark years where I hid from the dating world by working seven days a week. I later adopted the mantra "I don't want to play the fool" thanks to the lyrics from the Main Ingredient song (though I first learned of the tune from Aaron Neville) and those words would later come back and bite me again...and again. Happy April Fool's Day!

Aaron Neville "Everybody Plays the Fool"

It's a tried-and-true formula from Adult Contemporary artists: remake a classic R&B/Motown tune and then sit back and watch the money roll in. In Aaron Neville's case, he did not call on his old buddy Linda Ronstadt, but instead dusted off the sheet music to The Main Ingredient's "Everybody Plays the Fool" and watched it go to #8 on the Hot 100 (#1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart).  

Elvin Bishop - "Fooled Around And Fell in Love"

How many songs can you name with the word "fool" in the title?

• Everybody Plays The Fool
• Fool's Gold
• Don't Want to Be A Fool
• Foolish Beat
• Kissing A Fool
• What A Fool Believes
• Chain of Fools
• Foolish Games
• Fooled Around And Fell in Love