12. Jolly Fool Folly — Lyrics
Scroll past the lyrics to read more about this song.
Lyrics
[Intro]
When I feel hollow
It’s easy to follow
Whatever is loud
In a crowd
I stare at ground
Till the noise dies down
Stones in the river
Shaped by the shiver
And something I’ve found
Is when I trust my sound
The steps carve out
(pause)
…
[whispered]
Feet off the edge.
[Pre-Chorus]
I tried to be what
I thought they wanted
But it left me
Feeling haunted
[Chorus]
Jolly fool folly
Don’t follow me
I’m a folly fool
I step light.. nothing to prove
The hollow is full when I’m a fool
Yeah
The hollow is full when I’m a fool
Ha ha ha !
[Verse]
I used to be frozen
Let people do the choosing
I thought I’d be easy
just kept agreeing
I thought I could save myself
From the hell I built
And when the ground fell
no one was there
All that was hollow
Echoed loud and clear
Every cracked word in my ear
[whispered]
“Trust the step.”
[Pre-Chorus]
I tried to be what
I thought they wanted
But it left me
Feeling haunted
[Chorus]
Jolly fool folly
Don’t follow me
I’m a folly fool
I step light.. nothing to prove
The hollow is full when I’m a fool
Yeah
The hollow is full when I’m a fool
Ha ha ha !
[Bridge]
I step wrong
Laugh it off
Keep going on
Hollow makes room
Room makes play
Call it folly
Call it fool
[whisper]
I’m smiling mid-mistake
[Outro]
When I feel hollow
It’s easy to follow
When I trust my sound
…the steps carve out
Jolly fool folly
Don’t follow me
I’m a folly fool
Ha ha ha !
About This Song
This song came fast.
Kitchen-journal fast. The kind where the pen doesn’t pause and the body already knows the rhythm. Half the song arrived in minutes. The rest followed because it wanted to walk.
The Fool walked in.
The Fool, as a living posture
The Fool is the beginning that doesn’t ask permission.
In tarot, the Fool steps forward carrying almost nothing. They move by feel. By curiosity. By trust in motion itself.
Crowley describes the Fool as pure potential — the spark before form, the leap before story. The card holds innocence and intelligence in the same breath. Openness.
That’s the posture this song lives in.
“Feet off the edge.”
“Trust the step.”
The Fool doesn’t wait to understand the path. The path appears because the Fool moves.
Hollow as space
The word hollow changed meaning while I was writing.
Hollow became room.
When I stopped filling myself with noise, direction showed up. When I stopped borrowing certainty from the crowd, my own sound carved a way forward.
That’s why the chorus keeps returning to this line:
The hollow is full when I’m a fool.
The Fool knows how to let space work. They don’t rush to close it. They let it echo until play arrives.
Folly as freedom (Crowley wink)
The word folly here is intentional.
Aleister Crowley often used folly not as stupidity, but as freedom from social seriousness — the willingness to move without needing approval, certainty, or moral permission. In his work, the Fool isn’t reckless. The Fool is unburdened.
Folly is what happens when the weight of being “right” drops.
It’s the courage to look ridiculous while following something true.
It’s motion without self-surveillance.
It’s innocence reclaimed, not innocence lost.
Crowley’s Fool steps forward because the body says go — not because the mind has finished arguing. That’s the energy this song is playing in.
So when I say folly, I mean lightness without apology.
I mean movement without armor.
I mean joy that doesn’t wait to be validated.
Laughing mid-mistake is that kind of intelligence returning to the body.
It’s momentum without punishment.
Learning without shame.
Resilience that bends — and keeps going.
Why this song lives where it does
In INTERLVDE, this track arrives near the end because it lifts the weight.
After grief has been named, after mirrors have spoken, after paradox has softened — this song restores motion.
It reminds me that walking counts.
It says:
I can step wrong.
I can laugh.
Oops!
I can keep going.
That’s Fool medicine.
Why the Fool matters for FVNERAL
FVNERAL is a long ceremonial walk. Deep. Honest. Necessary.
The Fool is what keeps that walk alive.
The Fool is the one who dares to begin.
The Fool is the part of me that trusts the step before the proof.
The Fool is the version of me willing to enter the ritual without knowing how it ends.
This song is the threshold.
The moment where seriousness exhales.
The grin before the gate.
The light foot before the long road.
The Fool isn’t naive.
The Fool is ready.
May beginnings feel friendly.
May the edge feel like invitation.
May curiosity carry you farther than caution.
May mistakes turn into momentum.
May play keep you moving.
Crow’s on the wire, laughing at the moment. 🐦⬛
