It’s a very rare and also pleasant sounding, poetic word that was briefly used in the 17th century, but is in fact derogatory, pertaining to simpleton, someone who exhibits stupidity. It could well describe much behaviour in modern life too. But in songs, is it always wrong to be a foppotee? While the word is nigh on impossible to find in lyrics, simpletons are easier, and as is common for songwriters, a certain level of self-derogatory perspective comes up as much as criticism of others. Here then are a few examples.
Andy Partridge of XTC seems to have a fondness for the word on both sides of this perspective. The love song The Mayor of Simpleton, a clever play on words of course, from 1989’s Oranges and Lemons, puts being a foppotee in a more positive light:
Well I don't know how to write a big hit song,
And all crossword puzzles well I just shun,
And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton,
But I know one thing and that's I love you
But in Outside World, from the Drums and Wires album, the simpleton is mentioned is less glowing terms:
Bad black and white men
Standing in their pigpen
Selling guns to simpletons
To shoot 'em in the abdomen
But she's not interested in that
But she's not interested in that
She has six swans singing in her sauna
Ooo, outside, world, outside
New York-based singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia is self-critical to a particular level of introspection in the song Dumb I Am:
Dumb I am and a long day dream
A simpleton with a memory
A home prepared and a feast as well
But all will spoil with the lies I tell
Often it is foolishness in love that causes foppoteeness, but then is can also be recognised. The Chordettes’ version of Runnin’ World in the 1950s, a jazz standard sung and more often played as an instrumental by of the greats, and was written by Arthur Gibbs, Joseph Grey and Leo Wood, and is perhaps and best known for a rendition by Marilyn Monroe in the film Some Like It Hot also shown here.
No boy will ever make a fool of me
No boy! I mean just what I say
I ain't the simpleton I used to be
Wonder how I got that way
Sometimes simpletons are seen as equal to everyone else. Here’s Ray Davies with the Kinks song God’s Children from the movie Percy, 1971.
Oh, the rich man, the poor man, the saint and the sinner
The wise man, the simpleton, the loser and the winner
Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys includes the foppotee in the many sides of own identity, in this song from album Very.
I sometimes think that I'm too many people
Too many people, too many people
I sometimes think that I'm too many people
Too many people, too many people at once
The intellectual and bon-viveur
or the naive simpleton, so immature
A devoted son and family man
Or the wicked uncle who doesn't give a damn
How often these have tempted me
The question of identity depends on what I'm meant to be
There’s also an obscure mention of a simpleton in The Beta Band song It’s Over from acclaimed early work, The Three EPs:
Who could find him the sidewinding Indian
Why do they miss him, the overpaid simpleton?
She jumped in the river of the tears that I cry
Those are left alone, they're left outside
In one of the most acclaimed hip hop albums, Talib Kweli and Mos Def combined forces in the form of Blackstar with their song Redefinition:
These simpletons they mentioning the synonym for feminine
Sweeter than some cinnamon or danish rings by entammen
And finally, a sharp piece of foppotee observation, from The Cars, with Blue Tip from their 2011 album Move Like This:
You believe in anything, they tell you how to think
The simpletons all circle in the raging roller rink
Of course there are many more mentioned of simpleton-type behaviour in songs, but where might they occur, in is it possible to actually find a foppotee in lyrics? Please feel free to share any further examples in songs, instrumentals, on albums, film, art or other contexts in comments below.
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