After A Millennia Of Good Times

Father John Misty “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All”

I saw Father John Misty perform an early version of “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” back in 2019 so I know it wasn’t written with the purpose of appearing on his greatest hits album. But regardless, it’s very appropriate for that utility. I mean, even setting aside the joke in the 8th verse about “doing my greatest hits” in Las Vegas, it comes across as a commentary on his career to date. And this being Father John Misty that commentary goes heavy on weary cynicism and bitter irony, and the best jokes are all at his expense. The sound of the track is full-on 70s show biz razzle dazzle – a little disco, a little country, a little Rolling Thunder Revue – and while it’s delivered with a fairly aggressive wink, he didn’t half-ass anything about the arrangement. He’s so totally committed to the bit that it stops being a bit at all. He can’t help but make jokes and be clever, but he’s dead serious about the despair at the heart of this song and so many others he’s written through the years.

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