I wonder who she's seeing tonight
Is she really going out with him
He's not her type
And doin' all the things she used to do to me

Well, I'd say something to her
But I get so jealous
When I think of her loving somebody else
That I can't think why we ever let go
I must have been crazy

Tell me, what kind of fool am I
To just let go - to just let go like that
What kind of fool am I
To lose you

She was cold sometimes
But she made me feel alive
She was such a spoiled baby
But baby she could love
And she loved me like nobody ever will again

I thought we'd be together
When the world ran down
When the curtain fell and the lights came up
But the Gods or whatever make the world go round
Shuffled when they should have cut

Tell me what kind of fool am I
To just let go - to just let go like that
What kind of fool am I
To lose you

Did it come too easy to the two of us
Did we go too wrong to ever make it right
Were we too busy checking out the left hand
That we didn't see the right

Tell me what kind of fool am I
To just let go - to just let go like that
What kind of fool am I

Oh baby please, oh baby, please come back
I meant to say in time
Baby we could work it out
But I never meant to say goodbye

Tell me what kind of fool am I
What kind of fool am I
What kind of fool am I
To lose you

(total playing time 3:19)

Song Facts:

Rick performed this song on the Live N Kickin Special.  He performs this song as part of a Medley at some of his concerts.

It appears on the following releases:
Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet, Rick Springfield (Best Of), Anthology, The Best of Rick Springfield, Rick Springfield, Behind the Music: The Rick Springfield Collection,  Alive-Greatest Hits (as part of a Medley), The Best of Rick Springfield (Japan), Legendary, and Anthology (written in rock), We Are The '80s.

Rick says:  I wrote that pretty much after I split up a relationship myself. It was mainly my doing. The song pretty much speaks for itself. I like the way I said it in there. Anthony Newley will excuse me for stealing one of his titles. - Hot Ones Radio Show, 1984.

 According to US

I loved this song in the 80's. This is the perfect angst-written narrative for a early-teen girl such as I. I always had these crushes on older guys, I mean really older -they had a good 10 to 15 years on me. So the first lines of this song, "I wonder who she's seeing tonight. Is she really going out with him, he's not her type," used to really ring true to me, but in reverse. I'd see these man crushes I had out with their girlfriends and I'd pick those ladies apart inside my head, then go home and put a Rick Springfield record on. Pathetic, but true.

I never really considered what incident in Rick's life made him write this song, or even if there really was such an event. It was just another heartbreak, love lost type of song that I fell hard for back in those days. Then I grew up. Or shall I say, grew older. This song has been in my life for 25 years and yet it's not until now that I try to figure out what it all means, and how I feel about it. Was there something that Rick experienced that caused him to write this one? I find myself using that question a lot with his music. Look at "Child Within" or even "Beautiful Prize". Both beautifully written songs, but we all know there is no way Rick would have experienced the circumstances in those tunes firsthand. Is this another example of that? 

Before now, this was always just a song that I liked. I would never skip this track, not once. (still don't) I thought the video was good, right up until the part Rick starts flying around the drive-in -and I still think that way. I love his performance of this song on the Live & Kickin' concert. It's not often a singer makes you wish you were his microphone, but for that one.....I'd gladly trade a few moments of my life to become an inanimate object such as that. Lord knows I'd have to become something that has no feelings, for if it were me standing there holding that mike, I'd be a puddle of goo by the time the song had ended.

This song fits in perfectly for adults as well I've concluded. Think of a couple who has divorced, but still has feelings towards one another. "Tell me, what kind of fool am I to just let go, to just let go like that " I know a few people now who look back on their now-ended marriages and wonder just that. "Did it go too easy for the two of us, did we go too wrong to ever make it right?"

Today, I still listen to this track and feel the pangs I felt when I was younger. It's a good feeling though, knowing that I lived through those times with the comfort of Rick Springfield singing just to me in my bedroom. I miss hearing this whole song live at a show, I still feel Rick needs to reinstate a ballad portion to his set and include this song.  - 
Michelle P.

I love this song. The combination of I Get Excited and this song back to back on the album makes it a powerful one-two punch. Again, such poetry with the wording......But the Gods or whatever make the world go round shuffled when they should have cut.....This is one of my favorite lines. Here is the early indication of his explorations into possible other higher powers (Gods or whatever), and then the "shuffled when they should have cut", great choice of words. He's admitted to being a pretty jealous person, and I think this song has indications of that, too. Very well written song. rlh

This has always been one of my favorites. I like how it starts off kind of low and starts to build. He's sad and then angry with himself for letting whatever it was go so far as to break them up. He can't even call her because he is so jealous of the thought of her being with someone else that he ends up becoming angry. He has all these
different emotions toward this woman working with and against each other so he can't find a resolution. "I never meant to say goodbye"-He sings this verse like he is crying out to her, but also angry with her and himself. I like the music also. I like how it is slow and then increases in tempo. I think this was one of the better songs from SHSMY, but it probably contributed to what some of the critics were saying about the album not being as "tough" as WCD. No matter to me, I haven't ever been the type to let anyone tell me what music to listen to. Elizabeth S.

Right from the start…this song just grabs me. It's a combination love song/break-up song. For me, this song has memories attached to it of teenage heartbreak. There were times when I could totally relate to what he was saying. Rick is immediately showing his jealousy and insecurities: "I wonder who she's seeing tonight…is she really going out with him, he's not her type. And doing all the things, she used to do to me." Who hasn't felt this way at some point in time? He wants to "say something to her," but his jealousy is getting in the way (and likely his pride). 

Rick was really feeling this song when he wrote it. When he sings it, the raw emotion in his voice is incredible. I can totally feel his pain. This is a "please come back to me song." His voice is pleading, sad, lonely, and heartbroken. He regrets letting her go so easily and realizes he was 'crazy' to do so. It's a case of "You Don't Know What You've Got `Til It's Gone," like the song that came later by Cinderella. 

He is reminiscing about her and the things he loves/loved about her (kind of like making himself MORE miserable! A common mistake when you`re missing the one you love). "She was cold sometimes but she made me feel alive. She was such a spoiled baby, but baby she could love, and she loved me like nobody…ever will again." 

My favorite part of the song…."I thought we'd be together when the world ran down, when the curtain fell and the lights came up. But the Gods or whatever make the world go round, shuffled when they should have cut." As with most relationships, you promise each other `forever,` but sometimes things get in the way of that dream. I think he was afraid that their timing was off and it wasn't `fate` for them to be together. (I'm glad to know that he was wrong! I only learned recently that this song was definitely written for Barbie. Obviously the "Gods" were good to them after all.) I like the clever comparison Rick uses here, with the shuffle and cut thing. Like a deck of cards, and life has dealt you a bad hand. 

I hear anger and regret when he says "that" in "to just let go, to just let go like that." Towards the end, he is begging' her to come back to him: "Oh baby please, oh baby please come back." For some reason, in the context of this song…that is sweet and romantic. He's admitting to her that he was a fool to let her go. He tells her that he "never meant to say goodbye." 

I also like the video for this song. I think it's beautiful with all the visual effects throughout. The end is my favorite part though, because it appears that his pleas worked. She ends up back in his arms!  - 
Kelley Pearson

I could listen to this song on 'repeat' allll day long!!!! I love it and I don't think I could ever be tired of hearing it. That voice is so awesome in this one and I could just see the faces Rick would be making singing it live. The urgency in his voice and the passion in which he sings it make it all too wonderful for me.
My favorite lyrics are " Did it come too easy to the two of us, Did we go too wrong to ever make it right, Were we too busy checking out the left hand, that we didn't see the right" ......words that are bittersweet for me, but really make you think. Then the next few lyrics in which he says " oh baby, please oh baby please come back, I meant to say in time baby we could work it out, but I never meant to say goodbye" Again, very simply written, but great impact at the same time. From beginning to end this song is awesome and I love Rick ballads. The softer side of his soul just poured with passion out into our ears and I just hang onto the edge of my seat! - Amy L.

This song is a masterpiece and really dissects what is going inside the heart and soul of someone after parting ways in a relationship. The music is so soft yet strong enough to pull you in, in such a way that you really feel what is being said. His voice is full of honesty, angst and regret and it makes my heart bleed.

The beginning of the song starts off with a sort of double talk because he chose to leave a relationship but cant help thinking of her and where she is and who she is with. It takes me to a line in 'Hey Josephine'.. "Whose car window are you looking out of" (another top fav of mine). He admits to being jealous and is too shy or proud to come out and say to her face that he was wrong to 'let go'. He also has this whole internal dialogue going, trying to ask himself why he made the choice he made. How many of us have done this?

I also see a little 'projection' in his lyrics...blaming the 'Gods or whatever' and  the line 'shuffled when they should have cut', reminds me of poker, a game of chance and a gamble you take...but in the end it is up to you to make the  most out of the cards that you have been dealt.

He once wrote...'nothing that comes easy really matters' (and VV), and touches on the possibility that this relationship may have come too easy and thus you cant help wonder...its too easy...what is the catch? He does something here with the lyrics that I don't often see, he uses the same word twice in rhyme, but 
changes the syllables of each word just enough to make it 'fit' without sounding redundant. 'Right' is also used in direction (left/right) and in behavior (wrong/right).

I think the most powerful verse of this whole song is:
Oh baby please, oh baby, please come back 
I meant to say in time 
Baby we could work it out 
But I never meant to say goodbye

He knows in his heart he made a mistake and pleads for things to be the way they once were. I have, on a number of occassions, ran from a relationship prematurely, not realizing that the other person cannot read my mind, despite the fact that I am thinking to myself, maybe it will work out with a little time. So naturally, the other person moves on because that is the message conveyed to them, and later I am in a sort
of shock when I see, omg, they HAVE gotten over me...how dare they? Pretty arrogant isn't it? But it happens. 

This song is a perfect example of why I am still a fan of his music. It exudes honesty, sensitivity, human nature, regret, and is beautiful to listen to. When I go through stages of thinking, I need to find another interest other than Rick Springfield, I listen to this song and think 'What Kind Of Fool
Am I...to leave you..' because I know there will never be another musician and person who can replace this part of me. Rick is indeed a vital organ in my body. - Kat M.

This is one of my very favorite songs on the album and I always liked it because for once it was not about someone leaving him (if it was autobiographical) but instead, Rick regretting the decision to leave. "I can't think why I ever let go..I must have been crazy" is probably my favorite line. Incidentally, this is also one of my favorite videos. Just normal guy Rick munching on a doughnut while loading the projector....yeah right. I do love when he kind of "floats" at the end, it reminds me of when he would float above us on that beautiful EFX saucer. Whew. Always thought this song had kind of a country "twang" to it at the end which was odd but when it is Rick, it always works! - Tina W.