Is It Cool To Be A Fool?

    We all know what it's like to be made to look a fool. Especially if like me you were or are somebody that blushes easily. If ever something showed me up in front of others who were watching I would turn a bright shade of red and always stood transfixed like a startled rabbit in the headlights. I can remember wishing so many times that the earth would just open up and swallow me. But it never did of course and it probably did me no real or lasting harm in fact the opposite perhaps as obviously I have learned to deal with such occasions.
   
    Now, with comedy becoming a popular mode of media entertainment with stand up comedians and comediennes and reality shows high up on the list of enjoyed programmes is it cool to be a fool?

    April 1st, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some think it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar. 'Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."

This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.'

Whatever the explanation April Fools' Day is observed throughout the Western world. Practices include sending someone on a "fool's errand," looking for things that don't exist; playing pranks; and trying to get people to believe ridiculous things.

It certainly is an excellent subject for a folk song.

April Fool

Spring your surprises
wrapped in disguises
The telling of lies is
Okay today

As April is dawning
Issue no warning
You’ve just got the morning
To play today

Time to plan and plot
Give it your best shot
Got to get the lot
While trying not to get got
Who’ll be your April fool?


Practise your wheezes
Try out your teases
Do as you please, it’s
The way to be

You’re on the loose, full
Of tricks to confuse all
Your friends and bamboozle
Your family

Time to plan and plot
Give it your best shot
Got to get the lot
While trying not to get got
Who’ll be your April fool?

{b}Instrumental

Time to plan and plot
Give it your best shot
Got to get the lot
While trying not to get got
Who’ll be your, who’ll be your
Who’ll be your April fool?
April fool! April Fool! April Fool!




The song can be heard for free at http://fandalism.com/annticipation/dxFA