Battle of the Bands (BOTB) – “What a Fool Believes”

It’s the first of the month so that means another Battle of the Bands. Today I’m featuring “What a Fool Believes,” a song written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. The best-known version was recorded by The Doobie Brothers (with McDonald singing lead vocals) for their 1978 album Minute by Minute. Bowing at #73 on 20 January 1979, the single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 14 April 1979 for one week. The song received Grammy Awards in 1980 for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

“What a Fool Believes” was one of the few non-disco No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 during 1979. The song lyrics tell a story of a man who is reunited with an old love interest and attempts to rekindle a romantic relationship with her before discovering that one never really existed.

Here is some trivia about the song, found on Wikipedia:

Michael McDonald reputedly fired the whole band along with the stage manager after a 1979 Chicago show in which a backup singer hit a flat note on the second chorus for this hit. In an interview later in the year with Rolling Stone, McDonald revealed he “couldn’t abide such mistakes. I was running a band, not a circus.”

Michael Jackson contributed at least one backing track to the original Doobie Brothers recording, but was not credited for having done so.

Here is the Doobie Brothers version, with lyrics, for your listening pleasure. This version is NOT a contender in the contest however:

Now for the contest: Here are two really nice versions of the song. Please vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it better.

Matt Bianco – is a band, not a person! From Wikipedia: “Matt Bianco is a UK band that was formed in 1983. They are mainly known for their success in the mid-1980s and their jazz, Latin-flavoured music.

Popular during the mid-1980s in continental Europe, Matt Bianco was part of the new jazz pop genre… The name suggests that Matt Bianco is a person, often assumed to be an alias for the main constant member and frontman, Mark Reilly, but Matt is in fact “a made up spy, a secret agent; we loved spy TV themes and film scores.” Here is their version of What a Fool Believes:

The M People – M People is an English dance music band which formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is from the initials of Mike Pickering, who formed the group. During the summer of 1998, the band prepared for their fifth album, a compilation entitled The Best of M People which also contained three new tracks: “Testify”, “Dreaming” and a cover of the Doobie Brothers classic: “What a Fool Believes”. The album went on to sell 1.75 million, peaked at number 2 and was certified 3x platinum. Here is their version of the song:

Time to vote! Which do you like better and why?

And when you’re done voting, please visit these other BOTB participants and check out their cool battles:

• Far Away Series
• Stephen T. McCarthy’s Battle of the Bands Blog
• Tossing it Out
• This Belle Rocks
• Mike’s Ramblings
• Curious as a Cathy 
• Book Lover
• The Sound of One Hand Typing
• dcrelief ~ Battle of the Bands 
• Shady Dell Music & Memories
• Cherdo on the Flipside 
• THE DOGLADY’S DEN 
• Jingle Jangle Jungle 
• WOMEN: We Shall Overcome
• Alex J. Cavanaugh (occasionally)
• J.A. Scott
• Novel Brews
• Holli’s Hoots and Hollers
• Quiet Laughter