It’s likely that plenty of fans who have heard the 1976 hit single “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” believe that it’s Elvin Bishop who’s singing the song. After all, he’s listed as the artist. And, since it was his only pop hit, there’s nothing else on the radio for comparison.
Videos by American Songwriter
While Bishop wrote the song, he didn’t sing on it. Instead, this Yacht Rock standard was vocally delivered by a backing singer who would eventually go on to sing plenty more hits with an extremely popular 80s band.
Blues Excellence
Elvin Bishop was doing quite fine even before “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” came around. The type of gritty blues-rock that he played wasn’t typically associated with the pop charts. But he had captured a loyal fan base who grooved to his stellar guitar work.
Bishop first gained notoriety in the 60s as one of the lead gunslinging guitarists for the Butterfield Blues Band. That group combined a blues purism with the fury of rock guitar, and they won accolades for that approach. For a while, he was joined in that band by Mike Bloomfield, one of the architects of Bob Dylan’s early electric experiments.
Bishop eventually stepped out on his own, first as the leader of The Elvin Bishop Group and then as a solo artist. His career was ascending, with his 1975 Juke Joint Jump LP just missing the Top 40 of the US albums chart. Later that same year, he was finishing up his next album, Struttin’ My Stuff, when producer Bill Szymczyk told him there was space for another song. The artist had one he thought would do the trick.
Oh Mickey
A few years earlier, Bishop had written “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”, but he hadn’t yet recorded it. Bishop and company worked out a backing track, featuring some lilting keyboard sounds that made it sound like a stroll in the park.
The only problem came when Bishop came to put his vocals on the track. His gravelly voice worked well with bluesy rockers, but it didn’t fit here. Luckily, he had a ringer in his backing band. A young man named Mickey Thomas was called upon to take the lead on the song.
Of course, we now know Thomas for his work on several huge smash hits with Jefferson Starship and Starship in the late 70s and early 80s. His stellar work on “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” helped to put him on the national map. And Bishop, who added a scorching guitar solo to the track for good measure, basked in a No. 3 pop hit.
Behind the Lyrics of “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”
The narrator of “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” tells us about his former solitary ways. No matter how many girls he romanced, he remained unattached. “I didn’t care how much they cried, no sir,” he explains. “Their tears left me cold as a stone.”
He mentions his little black book and how it wasn’t exactly written in permanent ink. “But when the grass got a little greener on the other side,” he admits. “I’d just tear out that page.” But, as the title notes, that all changed in a hurry. “Free, on my own, that’s the way I used to be,” Thomas emotes. “But since I met you, baby, love’s got a hold on me.”
Mickey Thomas has never stopped performing “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” when he does solo shows. And Elvin Bishop kept the song in his set list as well, often letting the audience take lead vocals. The synchronicity between the two men produced a song that’s hallowed in the Yacht Rock annals.
Photo by Bob Buchanan/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.