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I'm assuming we all survived April Fool's Day this year--unless you were that poor sack I saw on The Soup last night who was blindfolded and wrapped in duct tape (sticky side out) and told by the Denver Nuggets or some other NBA organization that he was rolling around in a pile of money and that he could keep whatever he collected. The joke? There was no money, and the guy was left to flip like a dying fish in front of thousands of people. How amusing. (I looked and looked but cannot find neither news copy nor video of this event, but The Soup runs all week on E.)

This guy's ordeal makes me feel slightly better about my own wrong-end-of-April-Fool's-Day experience, which involved those abstract but just as binding matters of the heart. So here's a sampling of songs about fools, for all of us fools (i.e., for all of us).

1. "The Fool" - Neutral Milk Hotel

Ten years late, NMH is my latest obsession. FYI, every time I type "NMH" I think of Northfield Mount Hermon. Anyone?

2. "Fool Says" - M. Ward

Mmmmmm...M. Ward.

3. "Poor Misguided Fool" - Starsailor

This song appears on a compilation called Hits of 2002: Vol. 6, along with Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" and 13 other songs I've never heard of. All of them are covered by someone/thing called "Red Sauce." I'm perplexed.

4. "Desperation Made a Fool of Me" - Belle & Sebastian

Off of a wee EP from 2003.

5. "Maybe I'm a Fool (Killed)" - The New Amsterdams

No, they are not affiliated with the new Fox show. Starring Jordin Sparks?!

6. "Fool" - Cat Power

Not a huge fan of Cat Power. I know, I know. But this one is getting me right in the foolish heart.

7. "Like a Fool" - Superchunk

A tender victual (I swear that's how you spell it) from Superchunk.

8. "Damn This Foolish Heart" - Stellastarr*

One of the better bands with punctuation in their name.

9. "Ship of Fools" - Erasure

Dance it out, bitches.

10. "April Fools" - Rufus Wainwright

I just realized that this song is nearly ten years old and had a mild brain aneurysm.

Bonus Tracks

"Such a Fool" - 22-20's

Good defunct band alert!

"Fortunate Fool" - Jack Johnson

Jack's at his best when he's all-the-way-Moondoggie mellow, like in this track off Brushfire Fairytales.

I have two whole other mixes about fools, one soul/R&B, one classic rock/country. The preponderance of amazing songs involving fools proves my theory about the universality of foolishness. So I popped them up on iTunes for you, as a treat to thank you for being such loyal readers on this, my one year anniversary of writing for Zoom-In Online.

Below are the links and the tracklists. Enjoy. And I love you, you damn fools!

Fool Mix Soul/R&B (programming note: I chose Ray Charles' version of "A Fool For You" over Otis Redding's after much internal strife)

1. "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" - Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers

2. "Chain of Fools" - Aretha Franklin

3. "I Pity the Fool" - Stevie Wonder

4. "A Fool For You" - Ray Charles

5. "Get Yourself Another Fool" - Sam Cooke

6. "Fool of Me" - Me'Shell Ndegeocello

7. "A Fool In Love" - Ike & Tina Turner

8. "Just Your Fool" - Leon Haywood

9. "You're The Fool" - Mavis Staples

10. "Foolish Fool" - Chaka Khan

Bonus Tracks

"Silly Silly Fool" - Dusty Springfield

"These Foolish Things" - Billie Holiday

Fool Mix Rock/Country (programming note: Debbie Gibson's "Foolish Beat" and Cinderella's "Nobody's Fool" had to go somewhere)

1. "Fool In the Rain" - Led Zeppelin

2. "Poor Little Fool" - Ricky Nelson

3. "Fool No. 1" - Brenda Lee

4. "She's a Fool" - Lesley Gore

5. "Fools Hall of Fame" - Johnny Cash

6. "What a Fool Believes" - The Doobie Brothers

7. "Fools In Love" - Joe Jackson

8. "Fool to Cry" - The Rolling Stones

9. "A Fool Such As I" - Bob Dylan

10. "I'd Just Be Fool Enough (To Fall) - Johnny Cash

Bonus Tracks

"Foolish Beat" - Debbie Gibson

"Nobody's Fool" - Cinderella