I'm a Fool to Want You

Words & Music by Jack Wolf, Joel Herron, Frank Sinatra, 1951
Recorded by Billie Holiday, 1958


B7    Cdim    Em9   Em   B+   Em7
I'm a fool to want you, 

      E7-9     Am       Am+7
I'm a fool to want you,

   A9   Am C   Em              Gdim   Edim
To want a love   that can't be true,

              C7   Edim             B7
A love that's there  for oth - ers too.


B7    Cdim    Em9   Em   B+   Em7
I'm a fool to hold you, 

       E7-9     Am       Am+7
Such a fool to hold you.

    A9  Am C   Em              Gdim   Edim
To seek a kiss    not mine a - lone,

           Bm7-5      B7         Em   Em7
To share a kiss that Devil has known.



Bridge:


Am      Am+7    D9  D7             G9         G6
Time and time again    I said I'd leave you;

Am      Am+7    D9  D7          G9   G6
Time and time again    I went away.

    Am                   B7               Em        Em+7   Em7
But then would come the time when I would need you,

    Edim              C7            B7
And once again these words I had to say,



 B7     Cdim    Em9   Em   B+   Em7
Take me back, I love you;

    E7-9    Am       Am+7    Cdim
Pity me, I need you.

             Em   B+             Gdim  Edim
I know it's wrong,   it must be wrong,

              B7      C7         B7       Em       B+  Em7  Em6  Em9  Em
But right or wrong, I can't get along without you.

Although co-writer Frank Sinatra also recorded the song, possibly the most memorable version was the one recorded by Billie Holiday. This transcription, however, also borrows heavily from the 1984 re-make by Linda Ronstadt.

The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.