What makes a fool? It's not just about behaving stupidly. Shakespeare's Fool wasn't really foolish at all – he tried to make King Lear see sense. Clowns, meanwhile, behave foolishly, but it's foolishness as a profession. So when sifting through your suggestions of songs about fools, I realised the rubric wasn't foolproof. I decided to accept silly or crazy people. Idiots, too.
And nincompoops. Rocksteady skill powers Nincompoop, a wonderfully named song by a pre-Israelites Desmond Dekker.
But enough clowning around. The drizzle sets the mood in the Cascades' great Rhythm of the Rain. Though why should the "pitter patter" of the rain remind anyone they've been foolish? I suppose when you've been a chump, there's no getting away from it. On a similar theme, Low's version of Robin Gibb's I Started a Joke takes an already-sad song down a notch.
Love renders Guess I'm Dumb's narrator incapable, unfortunately a state that would become familiar to Brian Wilson. It's an art-pop masterpiece, in terms of its melody and arrangement up there with Pet Sounds – but recorded by Wilson a year earlier. The Beach Boys themselves could not have improved on the vocal performance of Glen Campbell, who played with them after Wilson quit touring with the band in 1964.
Yacht rockers the Doobie Brothers' What a Fool Believes may sound like the soundtrack to Jeremy Clarkson road-testing a BMW -– in fact, it has been used for just that – but it's infectiously catchy and hammers home the idiocy of blind love.
Dantalian's Chariot were a short-lived 1967 ensemble featuring ex-R&B bandleader Zoot Money and Andy Summers, later of the Police. Madman Running Through the Fields is an expression of rebellion and rejection of society in the form of a whimsical surrender to insanity, in all likelihood prompted by hallucinogenics.
The folly of being unfaithful is outlined by Glasgow indie types Camera Obscura in the lovely Tears for Affairs, from 2006's Let's Get Out of This Country. It doesn't sound like a lament; more relief at the wisdom gained after the event.
Birdbrain is a typically intense Buffalo Tom performance, co-produced by Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis in 1990 and showcasing one of the best riffs ever. The birdbrain in question appears to be a 25-year-old glue-sniffer. Just say no, kids. And adults.
Trees' English pastoral Fool is tale of medieval ignorance, acid folk-rock with the emphasis on rock. Singer Celia Humphris's voice can now be heard on the London Underground – it's her saying "mind the gap". Portland's M Ward captures some of that don't-laugh-at-me-'cause-I'm-a-fool melancholy with his version of Frank Sinatra's I'm a Fool to Want You, dissolving into an after-hours pool of big reverberating guitar.
Here's the A-list:
Rhythm of the Rain – The Cascades
What a Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers
Guess I'm Dumb – Glen Campbell
Madman Running Through the Fields – Dantalian's Chariot
Tears for Affairs – Camera Obscura
Outro (I'm a Fool to Want You) – M Ward
Here's the B-list:
These Foolish Things – Benny Goodman with Helen Ward
Lots of versions of the indestructible These Foolish Things were nominated, but I like the languid feel to what lonniej described as Helen Ward's "typical 1936 treatment that suits the song".
Look at the Fool – Tim Buckley
Outright gorgeousness afoot on the faux-soul title track of Jeff's dad's last album.
Delicate Satie-ish piano tinkles over a wash of sinister synths while JJ Burnel mutters Gainsbourg-like over a very un-Stranglers-ish fretless bass.
When the Heart Breaks Deep – David Dondero
Minnesota songwriter Dondero's 2007 gem about the foolishness felt by a wronged lover.
Lee Hazlewood was a dabbler, not comfortably pigeonholed. In 1956 we find our hero a DJ in Phoenix, Arizona, who gets local rockabilly singer and guitarist Sanford Clark to record one of his songs. It becomes his biggest hit.
Love makes Etta feel foolish, as she's a "slave for you" all week long. Bluesy and classy, but never quite takes the plunge into feminism.
Fool in the Rain – Led Zeppelin
Zep go thrillingly off piste, John Bonham particularly impressing with Bernard Purdie-style drum patterns. They were inspired to adopt a samba feel by watching the Argentina-hosted 1978 World Cup.
Fool to Cry – The Rolling Stones
People are so down on the Stones after Exile, when Keith got lost to heroin and Mick took over. But I love Fool to Cry. Like his best performances this one's ludicrous, lurching from camp LA street tough to falsetto disco queen.
How Sweet to be an Idiot – Neil Innes
The peerless ex-Rutle provided Noel Gallagher's "inspiration" for Oasis' Whatever with a mid-paced piano ballad about the delights of idiocy.
The Fools We Are as Men – Ryan Adams
When your beloved walks out, how foolish do you feel? Very, Ryan "not Bryan" Adams tells God, as he prays for deliverance from his own foolishness.
* Note: from next week I propose to reduce the size of the B-list to just five, in order to highlight the importance of the A-list, and also to ease my workload.
* Here's last week's blog, from which I've selected the songs above
* Here's a Spotify playlist containing many of these songs
* There'll be a fresh theme at guardian.co.uk/readersrecommend on Friday
