Chain of Fools
Aretha Franklin | Artist Essentials
First released: 1967 (year verified)
Original released 1967 single version
MusicAtlas editorial note: Follow the recurring guitar figure and the way the voices turn repetition into mounting tension.
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Release evidence and recording details
First released: 1967 (year verified)
The original single appeared in 1967 before Lady Soul in 1968. The selection is the released single version, not an alternate performance or later cover.
Recording: Original released 1967 single version
Credit: Aretha Franklin
Role in this collection: Primary artist
Original single: Chain of Fools / Prove It
The Atlantic Singles 1967 - official Rhino release listing
Identifies the five original 1967 single pairings, including I Never Loved a Man, Respect, A Natural Woman and Chain of Fools. The modern box date is not an original-release date. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Chain of Fools - official Aretha/Rhino original-release history
Explicitly places Aretha's original single in November 1967 and the Lady Soul album in 1968; distinguishes the much later television-cast cover. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Lady Soul - Rhino original-album catalog
Identifies Lady Soul as a 1968 album including Chain of Fools and A Natural Woman. The selected recordings' earlier singles are documented separately. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Aretha boxed set - Rhino recording-version inventory
Explicitly identifies the later Blues Brothers Think, alternate Chain of Fools and Rock Steady, television duet I Say a Little Prayer, and a work tape of Until You Come Back to Me as different versions; none is silently substituted here. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
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About Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin developed as a singer and pianist in the gospel life of her father's Detroit church. Her early recordings for Columbia drew on pop, blues and jazz before her Atlantic work brought gospel phrasing and rhythm into a defining run of soul records. Respect and the albums Lady Soul and Aretha Now belong to that late-1960s period. She also continued recording gospel, including Amazing Grace, and later explored dance-oriented pop during her Arista years.
Artist background sources
Aretha Franklin - Rhino artist history
Detroit gospel upbringing, singing and piano, Columbia and Atlantic eras, late-1960s albums, Amazing Grace and later Arista recordings. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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