What a Fool Believes

McDonald told Ultimate Classic Rock that he jotted the first verse on an envelope on a flight from New York to Los Angeles, that the piano part was an idea he had worked on for most of a year, and that he thought it a strange pop ditty until Loggins heard it through the door and said that's what I want to work on first. Songfacts says Porter suggested Loggins, who devised the bridge before they sat down, and that they finished the lyrics by telephone the next day; other accounts differ on the bridge. The concept, per McDonald, is two former lovers meeting in a restaurant, with the man misreading her polite exit as interest. Wikipedia notes the influence of the Four Seasons' "Sherry" and "Walk Like a Man". Loggins released his version first, on Nightwatch (Columbia, July 12, 1978, produced by Bob James).

The Doobies cut theirs in August 1978. Templeman said the band could not get a usable rhythm track, so he cut the master tape into sections and assembled it, with the final take spliced from tape box 3 and box 12; he played drums alongside Knudsen for a floppy feel, and McDonald said we just didn't feel that we were capturing the groove. McDonald played the opening riff on a seven-foot Steinway and Oberheim Polyphonic Eight Voice, Bill Payne spent a day programming synths, and plywood was stomped for percussion. Templeman told the Guardian he was just about ready to throw it away, while executives loved it.

The single, released in January 1979 at 3:41, debuted at 73 on January 20 and reached number one on April 14, 1979, also number one in Canada and 31 in the UK; it is Gold in the US and the Grammy Hall of Fame added it in 2024. It won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1980 Grammys. They played it on Saturday Night Live on January 27, 1979. Aretha Franklin covered it in 1980 (46 UK), Matt Bianco in 1991, Peter Cox in 1998, Self in 2000 and Sara Evans on Southbound (2014). It is in Grand Theft Auto V (2013). The band denied a claim that Michael Jackson sang backing vocals. Our upload is the album version.