Everybody Plays the Fool

"Everybody Plays the Fool"
Side A of US single
Single by the Main Ingredient
from the album Bitter Sweet
B-side"Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me?)"
ReleasedJune 1972[1]
Recorded1972
StudioRCA Studio C (New York City)
Genre
Length3:22
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
The Main Ingredient singles chronology
"Black Seeds Keep on Growing"
(1971)
"Everybody Plays the Fool"
(1972)
"You've Got to Take It (If You Want It)"
(1972)

"Everybody Plays the Fool" is a 1972 song first recorded by American R&B group The Main Ingredient, and written by J. R. Bailey, Rudy Clark and Ken Williams. It was the first single released from the group's album Bitter Sweet, released with the B-side "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me?)". "Everybody Plays the Fool" was the group's highest charting hit single, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1972. It also peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and at No. 25 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart.[3] It was certified gold by the RIAA.[4]

The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song at the 1973 ceremony, losing to "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".

A 1991 cover of the song by Aaron Neville, from the album Warm Your Heart, was also successful, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 in New Zealand.

  1. ^ "New Radio Action and Billboard Picks Singles". Billboard. June 17, 1972. p. 70.
  2. ^ Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (October 15, 1996). "Walking in Rhythm: Seventies Soul". Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 64. ISBN 031214704X.
  3. ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of No. 1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)