THE FOOL ON THE HILL (Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66)
“The Fool on the Hill” is a song by the Beatles. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and recorded in 1967. The cover version by Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66 was released in 1968 and reached No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart; and spent six weeks at No. 1 on the easy listening chart. Released on the album Fool on the Hill. (More from Wikipedia)
Four of the five songs on Side 1 of the Queen Anne’s Lace album are covers, and familiar ones at that: “The Fool on the Hill” opens the album and is a fine if spare rendition of the Beatles song that was almost lost among the torrent of creativity that was the Magical Mystery Tour album of 1967 – besides the songs from the ill-fated Beatles TV movie of the same name, Magical Mystery Tour, some of the band’s best singles were also included: “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Hello Goodbye”, “All You Need is Love”, and others. It probably would have had a shot at being a successful single, except that “The Fool on the Hill” had already been a Top 5 hit in 1968 for Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 (a self-defeating band name that had already been renamed once from Brasil ’65).
(August 2010)
