ParentingOurParents congratulates it’s founder, Jane Wolf Waterman, on the release of Bob Dylan’s remarkable new CD, Shadows of the Night, in which Bob opens with a completely unique and very Dylanesque version of her Dad, Jack Wolf’s standard, “I’m A Fool to Want You.”

Although this song has been loved for almost 65 years and covered by nearly 500 artists since Frank Sinatra first made it a legend, now Boomers get to relish how their iconic hero Bob croons and emotes this and nine other well-loved tunes popularized by their parents’ own iconic Frank.

In her memoir-self help book, “Oh My God! We’re Parenting Our Parents: How to Transform this Remarkable Challenge into a Journey of Love,” Jane takes us through her years of caring for songwriter Dad, Jack, and Mom, Lillian. Now for the first time she reveals the backstory behind “Fool.”

“It was 1951 and Frank was at a low point in his life — his career was flailing and he’d left the mother of his children as he’d fallen in love with Ava Gardner, and that was always tempestuous. One night he walked into Columbia Records to record this new song. He became so overwhelmed with his own emotions that, after singing my Dad’s original line, ‘Take me back, I love you,’ he changed the next line from my Dad’s lyric and added his own distraught, raw lyric ‘Pity me, I need you!’. And, having sing it once and only once, he walked out of the studio and into the night. ”

Dad and his other co-writer Joel Herron immediately knew what to do: they offered Frank co-writer status and never looked back.

Since then, “Fool” has become an anthem for Frank and lovers throughout the globe. And even in his last days, long after Ava had gone from his life, Frank would ask his family to play him singing “I’m A Fool to Want You.”

• This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Jane.