"Everybody Plays the Fool"

Every so often, a pop song expresses an emotional truth so perfectly that it becomes a definitive example of that truth, scarcely to be bettered. One such for me is The Main Ingredient's 1972 R&B hit "Everybody Plays the Fool," which sums up in a more light-hearted fashion (and fewer words) what I was trying to get across in my post on "Love" the other day. It is a consoling song, too; I like that.



Okay, so your heart is broken
You sit around mopin'
Cryin' and cryin'
You say you`re even thinkin' about dyin'
Well, before you do anything rash, dig this

Everybody plays the fool sometime
There's no exception to the rule
Listen, baby, it may be factual, may be cruel
I ain't lyin', everybody plays the fool
Falling in love is such an easy thing to do
And there's no guarantee that the one you love
Is gonna love you

Oh-oh-oh, loving eyes they cannot see
A certain person could never be
Love runs deeper than any ocean
It clouds your mind with emotion

Everybody plays the fool, sometime
There's no exception to the rule
Listen, baby, it may be factual, may be cruel
I want to tell ya
Everybody plays the fool

How can you help it when the music starts to play
And your ability to reason is swept away
Oh-oh-oh, heaven on earth is all you see
You're out of touch with reality
And now you cry but when you do
Next time around someone cries for you

Everybody plays the fool, sometime
They use your heart just like a tool
Listen, baby, they never tell you so in school
I want to say it again
Everybody plays the fool
Listen to me, baby
Everybody plays the fool, sometime
No exception, no exception to the rule
It may be factual, may be cruel, sometime
But everybody plays the fool
Listen, listen, baby
Everybody plays the fool