"Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" is the second single released from Styx's ''

The Grand Illusion ''The Grand Illusion'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Styx. Recorded at Paragon Recording Studios in Chicago, the album was released on July 7, 1977, by A&M Records. (Intentionally choosing the combination 7th on 7-7-77 f ...

'' (1977) album. On the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop chart in the U.S., the single peaked at #29 in April 1978. It also hit no. 20 on the Canada RPM Top Singles chart the week of May 6, 1978. The song was written by guitarist

Tommy Shaw Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his tenure in the rock band Styx (band), Styx as co-lead vocalist. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with other groups includi ...

. It was originally based on Shaw's initial perception of Styx keyboardist

Dennis DeYoung Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a founding member of the rock band Styx, and served as its primary lead vocalist and keyboardist from 1972 until 1999. DeYoung was th ...

— an "angry young man" who viewed the group's successes with a wary eye and grew angry or depressed with every setback. It was only in later years that Shaw began to see himself in the lyrics, and the song took on a more personal meaning to him. The composition features a number of

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

changes. The intro and outro are performed in time, led by Shaw's acoustic guitar tracks and Dennis DeYoung's synthesizer melodies. The vocal sections of the song are in . The instrumental features a synthesizer solo in time, before returning to for the final chorus. After a brief intro recap, there is a brief break with two measures of time, and then a return to the meter, with another synthesizer solo, before fading out.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

– lead vocals, acoustic lead guitar * James Young – electric rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

– keyboards, backing vocals *

Chuck Panozzo Charles Salvatore Panozzo (born September 20, 1948) is an American musician best known as a co-founder of the rock band Styx. He is currently a part-time bass player in the band, sharing bass duties with Ricky Phillips. Panozzo suffers from HIV ...

– bass *

John Panozzo John Anthony Panozzo (September 20, 1948 – July 16, 1996) was an American drummer best known for his work with rock band Styx. Early life and career Panozzo grew up in the Roseland neighborhood, the south side of Chicago, Illinois, with hi ...

– drums

References

External links

Styx - "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" (1977) song to be listened
as stream at Spotify.com {{authority control 1977 songs 1978 singles Songs written by Tommy Shaw Styx (band) songs A&M Records singles