Chain of Fools is a soul and R&B song written by Don Covay, who wrote both music and lyrics. Covay composed it in his youth while singing gospel with his brothers and sisters. When Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler asked him for songs for Otis Redding, Wexler gave it to Aretha Franklin instead. Franklin released it as a single on Atlantic in November 1967, recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with Wexler producing and "Prove It" on the B-side. Jimmy Johnson and Joe South play electric guitar, South also playing the tremolo intro, and Spooner Oldham plays Wurlitzer electric piano. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart for four weeks, No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on Cash Box. It later appeared on the 1968 album Lady Soul in an edited form. The recording won the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and is in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Jimmy Smith, Ann Peebles and Joe Cocker are among later performers, and Cynthia Erivo and Jennifer Hudson sang it in the 2021 films Genius: Aretha and Respect.
