Statue of a Fool


"Statue of a Fool" is a song credited by Jan Crutchfield and has been recorded by a number of country artists such as Jack Greene, Brian Collins, Ricky Van Shelton, and Bill Medley, formerly of The Righteous Brothers.

Question of Authorship

Authorship of the song is surrounded in controversy. According to Genna Sapia-Ruffin, girlfriend of David Ruffin, former member of The Temptations, on page 251 of her book A Memoir: David Ruffin -- My Temptation, Ruffin wrote and originally released the song on a 78 RPM in 1958, when he was recording under the name "Little Eddie Bush.' However, as he was only seventeen years old at that time, later covers of the song gave writing credits to Jan Crutchfield.
Ruffin rerecorded the song in 1975 for the album Who I Am, with his name unchallenged as the sole writer.

Chart performance

Jack Greene version

Brian Collins version

Bill Medley version

Ricky Van Shelton version

Year-end charts