“What a Fool Believes” by Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers cut "What a Fool Believes" for their eighth album, Minute by Minute, in 1978, and theirs is the version that stuck, with Michael McDonald singing a tune he wrote with Kenny Loggins. Loggins had dropped by McDonald's place in Los Angeles, heard him working out a melody on the piano and offered a hook he already had; raised on the Four Seasons' "Sherry" and "Walk Like a Man", they finished it the next day, and Loggins actually got it on record first, on his album Nightwatch.

Ted Templeman produced the Doobies' take, which skips along on McDonald's keyboards and synths, with Patrick Simmons and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on guitar. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1979, won Grammys for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2024.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.