This is my heart bleeding before you/
This is me down on my knees.

“Foolish Games” is one of Jewel’s amazing songs from her first album. Of her three hits from that record, I think “Foolish Games” is the one that stands the test of time. But there still may be one that is even better coming later in the list. Stay tuned.

The strength of “Foolish Games” is that it is played all on the piano, so it provides a clearly different sound than the rest of her first album. In the song she discusses her current love. Notice the attention to detail she provides about him. She is very into him. But she is starting to get the sense that he is not as into her. And it hurts. It’s tearing her apart. Breaking her heart. While she adores the man, she is starting to see that he is not treating her well, and a breakup will be on the horizon.

If you haven’t seen her perform this on the VMAs, you must. It is the most iconic VMA moment in my mind. She was angelic and you absolutely knew she was going to be a superstar. She must have been only 19 at the time.

Foolish Games Lyrics

You took your coat off, stood in the rain,
You’re always crazy like that.
And I watched from my window,
Always felt I was outside looking in on you.
You’re always the mysterious one with
Dark eyes and careless hair,
You were fashionably sensitive
But too cool to care.
You stood in my doorway, with nothing to say,
Besides some comment on the weather.

Well in case you failed to notice,
In case you failed to see,
This is my heart bleeding before you,
This is me down on my knees… and

These foolish games are tearing me apart.
And your thoughtless words are breaking my heart.
You’re breaking my heart.

You’re always brilliant in the morning,
Smoking your cigarettes and talking over coffee.
Your philosophies on art, Baroque moved you
You loved Mozart. and you’d speak of your loved ones
As I clumsily strummed my guitar.

You’d teach me of honest things,
Things that were daring, things that were clean,
Things that knew what an honest dollar did mean.
I hid my soiled hands behind my back,
Somewhere along the line, I must have gone off track with you.

Excuse me, guess I’ve mistaken you for somebody else,
Somebody who gave a damn
Somebody more like myself.

These foolish games are tearing me
You’re tearing me, you’re tearing me apart.
And your thoughtless words are breaking my heart.
You’re breaking my heart.

And you took your coat off, stood in the rain.
You’re always crazy like that.

written by Jewel