"Only a Fool Would Say That" is a song by the American rock band Steely Dan from their 1972 debut album Can't Buy a Thrill, written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.
Steely Dan biographer Anthony Robustelli interpreted "Only a Fool Would Say That" as a depiction of "two disparate characters, one for each verse; the first, a more optimistic hippie-like character, the second a downtrodden working stiff." In the chorus and bridge the narrator, a misanthropic and paranoid character, rebukes both the hippie and the working stiff and says their respective dreams are unrealistic. American Songwriter instead interpreted "Only a Fool Would Say That" as mocking John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine". They identify the character of the first verse with Lennon and the narrator with Steely Dan, who are rebuking Lennon for "being out of touch with reality" but are supportive of the working stiff.
The track ends with the phrase "Solamente un tonto dirÃÂa eso", Spanish for "only a fool would say that", spoken by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.
"Only a Fool Would Say That" was released in March 1973 as the B-side to the single "Reelin' In the Years".
Mojo magazine ranked it number 25 in their list of Steely Dan's 30 greatest songs. The British broadcast service BBC called it "quintessential Dan: mellifluous yet mordant, easy on the ear but as caustic as any dissection of the American dream."