“New Fool at an Old Game”
Reba McEntire
Written by Steve Bogard, Rick Giles, and Sheila Stephen
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
March 3, 1989
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
March 25, 1989
Reba McEntire closes out the decade with two mediocre covers.
The first is “New Fool at an Old Game,” a pleasant enough ballad that was recorded by a young Michelle Wright, who took it to the Canadian top fifteen in 1987. Even though Wright was several years younger than McEntire when she recorded it, her deeper vocal gave the slight song a bit of heft and its narrator a sense of agency. It’s such a “helpless little girl” kind of song that singing it softly would really drive home its infantilizing lyrics.
Which is exactly what McEntire does, to a degree that would make Barbara Fairchild blush. The weakness is so forced, like McEntire is holding back 98% of her ferocious energy to eke out the gobsmacking lines, “I don’t know the rules. Teach me how to play.”
Tony Brown cannot arrive fast enough.
“New Fool at an Old Game” gets a C.
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For some reason, this song is one of the first songs that comes to my mind when I think of Reba. No idea why. Pleasant enough filler, that’s all it really is.
Not one of Reba’s best but I’m okay with it. I’ll concede that the lyrics are a little too immature for this stage of Reba’s career. She sells the vulnerable vocals for a pleasant listen but not necessarily for a believable reflection of where Reba should have gone next following songs like “One Promise Too Late” and “I Know How He Feels”. The song also has a retro mid-80s feel to the production that works for me in generating a relaxed and slightly glossy vibe, but it seems dated.
I’m curious enough about the original by Michelle Wright to give that a listen. After “He Would be Sixteen”, I’m always gonna be willing to give her vocal performances the benefit of the doubt.
Grade: B
I actually like this better than I Know How He Feels, though neither is in the same league as the trifecta of How Blue, Somebody Should Leave and One Promise Too Late. This album and her next one are arguably the two weakest of her MCA period.
It’s ironic that the Reba albums to spend the most weeks at number one on the charts are ” Reba” at 8 weeks and “Sweet Sixteen” at 16 weeks. Given this period being her most mediocre as far as this feature feels, you’d think album sales would be flat or low. What do you think is the reason for this success even though the songs are not as good as what came before and what is coming with Tony Brown. I actually like this song a bit more than you though, I’d give it a B!
Just so-so. C+
I must admit that I did not recall Michaelle Wright’s version of “New Fool at an Old Game”, so I dug up Michelle’s version on youtube. Michelle’s version isn’t great, but it is more substantial than Reba’s version. I would give it a B-.
Reba’s version is really lame, probably the weakest of her #1 hits – maybe a D+. She really should not have been recording this sort of material.