“Fool For Your Love”
Mickey Gilley
Written by Don Singleton
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
June 17, 1983
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
June 25, 1983
Mickey Gilley’s final solo No. 1 hit features his signature sound applied to new material.
That alone makes it a refreshing listen because it was getting tiring hearing covers done in this style. “Fool For Your Love” certainly sounds like an older song because of the typical Gilley arrangement from this era, but because there isn’t another hit version for Gilley to reference, he’s a bit more liberated in his performance. This is the best he’s sounded on a single in a good long while.
Gilley has one more No. 1 hit this year, a collaboration with Charly McClain. But even though he didn’t return to No. 1 as a solo artist, he remained a regular on country radio through 1987, scoring eleven more top twenty hits after his chart topping McClain collaboration, eight of which reached the top ten.
Following his country radio run, Gilley became a mainstay of the bourgeoning Branson, Missouri concert circuit, owning his own theater in the city. Gilley continued to record sporadically in the nineties and beyond for a variety of independent labels. Gilley passed away in 2022 at the age of 86.
“Fool For Your Love” gets a B+.
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I am just a fool for Gilley’s sound!
Why change lanes when you have settled into your ideal cruising speed? Gilley’s sound may have become predictable at this point, but he is still so damn good and confident at delivering the goods.
Country radio was better for his music