What A Fool Believes

Lyrics meaning of What A Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers

"What A Fool Believes" is essentially the tale of a man thinking back on a previous relationship. He meets a woman he used to feel a connection with, and he persuades himself that she feels the same way. The story of the song centres on his mistaken notion that their love was meaningful and reciprocal. But in actuality, things are very different; she has moved on and no longer feels or remembers things the same way.

The song was written in Los Angeles by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, who had been wanting to work together for a while. Hearing McDonald play a piece on the piano, Loggins went to his house and proposed they work on it since he already had a hook line ("She had a place in his life") in mind. Songs they listened to growing up, such "Sherry" and "Walk Like a Man" by the Four Seasons, had an influence on the song they created. The next day, they had the song finished.

What A Fool Believes lyrics by The Doobie Brothers

He came from somewhere back in her long ago

The sentimental fool don't see

Tryin' hard to recreate

What had yet to be created once in her life

She musters a smile

For his nostalgic tale

Never coming near what he wanted to say

Only to realize

It never really was

She had a place in his life

He never made her think twice

As he rises to her apology

Anybody else would surely know

He's watching her go

But what a fool believes he sees

No wise man has the power to reason away

What seems to be

Is always better than nothing

And nothing at all keeps sending him...

Somewhere back in her long ago

Where he can still believe there's a place in her life

Someday, somewhere, she will return

She had a place in his life

He never made her think twice

As he rises to her apology

Anybody else would surely know

He's watching her go

But what a fool believes he sees

No wise man has the power to reason away

What seems to be

Is always better than nothing

There's nothing at all

But what a fool believes he sees...