Happy April Fools Day!
Fool Too Long is a song from the 1980 album Seconds of Pleasure. The song was written by Nick Lowe, who was one of the key songwriters and vocalists in Rockpile. It’s a catchy rock tune with elements of power pop and new wave with the underlying old rock sound.
Nick Lowe (lead vocals, bass), Dave Edmunds (lead vocals, guitar), Billy Bremner (backing vocals, guitar), and Terry Williams (drums)— had been writing, recording, and playing live together for years before they released just one album at least under the Rockpile name.
One of the reasons they only recorded one album is record label issues. Rockpile was signed to different labels in different regions, with Dave Edmunds signed to Swan Song Records (co-owned by Led Zeppelin) in the United States and Nick Lowe signed to Columbia Records in the UK. These label differences complicated the band’s recording and promotional efforts. They actually recorded more but on other people’s records. They were the backing band for Dave Edmunds’s Tracks On Wax 4, side one of a Mickey Jupp album, and more.
Before the band recorded Seconds of Pleasure, the name “Rockpile” had already been used as the title of an album by Dave Edmunds that he released in 1970. Edmunds subsequently toured as “Dave Edmunds and Rockpile,” with a band that included Williams on drums. However, the group became known as Rockpile didn’t form until Lowe and Edmunds began recording together in the mid-1970s.
The album peaked at #27 on the Billboard 100, #29 in Canada, and #34 in the UK in 1980.
Fool Too Long
I should have realised babe a long time ago
When you told me that you loved me but you didn′t any more
You ran around with anyone all behind my back
You asked me to forgive you I went and took you back
Well I thought you learned your lesson then
But now I see it happen again
And I’ve been a fool too long
I had you figured out all wrong
I′ve been a fool too long
And I ain’t gonna be a fool no more
I should have seen the signs babe the writing on the wall
When all those other guys started coming round to call
You told me that you changed but that was just a lie
When you said I was your only I was just another guy
Well if I’m the one who pays the rent
I gotta have one hundred percent
Cos I′ve been a fool too long
I had you figured out all wrong
I′ve been a fool too long
And I ain’t gonna be a fool no more
…
