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

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

'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 for l ...

'' (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 singer and guitarist 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 including Damn Yan ...

, who sings lead vocals on it. It was originally based on Shaw's initial perception of Styx keyboardist

Dennis DeYoung Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist. 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 the band's most ...

— 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 A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

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. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that the song "starts acoustically and builds with synthesizers and guitars to a swirling finish." ''Record World'' also said that "the message is both positive and cautionary, and several voices add their effect to a likely radio favorite."

Personnel

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

– keyboards, backing vocals *

Chuck Panozzo Charles Salvatore "Chuck" 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 Terry Gowan. Panozzo is living wit ...

– 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 Panozzo was born to Tranquinino Panozzo and Elizabeth Lofrano Panozzo, both of whom were of Italian desc ...

– drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

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