The Fool

Duncan and Freiberg wrote it. Wikipedia says it began with lyrics Freiberg typed on a typewriter during an LSD trip, citing a 1997 interview with John Barthel that we could not read. It was first played live in May 1967 and extended in concert; a July 1968 TeenSet article says it once ran as long as 30 minutes live and was cut to about 12 for the album, and that Cipollina kept a notebook of every set so they never repeated one. Vintage Guitar describes a mostly instrumental piece with shifting time signatures and tempos, a Cipollina wah-pedal solo and riffing between his guitar and Freiberg's viola. Craig Chaquico said the tone and emotional content of the solo has always stayed with him, Kerry Livgren called it a long, developed piece with all of these different movements, and Rob Millis of Toppermost calls it the psychedelic masterpiece. Starostin finds it dull but hears a hallucinogenous reinterpretation of Ravel's Bolero, and Brian McGowan wrote in 2026 that it drags a bit.

Other versions are a live 13:15 take on Lost Gold and Silver (1999), a 14:30 outtake on the Rare Tracks release of 2023, and an 8 October 1967 set listed on etree. Setlist.fm shows 8 performances. It was never a single, and we found no covers or samples; we do not know whether our upload is the 1968 studio version.