George Michael - Kissing a Fool Lyrics Meaning

This one is obvious.

Remember Michaels is gay and at the time he wrote and produced "Kissing a Fool", his label had forced him to stay in the closet. His opus magnum, "Faith", was overlaid with abundant gay imagery, albeit hidden.

Here he is telling a specifically gay tale, the toll a gay relationship can take under intense public disapproval. The singer is lamenting about the recently lost love of another man "who listened to people who scared [him] to death and from [the singer's] heart." The line "strange that you were strong enough to even make a start" suggested that the ex-boyfriend was in the closet and had recently opened up to "listen to his heart." With homophobic scrutiny, the boyfriend was made to "feel a fool" and he "let them steal [his heart]." The BF got scared, abandoned his love and went back into the closet.

The singer defiantly challenges the BF in absentia, "We could have shown them all, we should have seen love through.

The men had a brief but passionate physical relationship. Their love was intense, but in the end the closeted BF walks away from love. The singer, again in absentia, tells the ex-lover "But remember this... when you need the hand of ANOTHER MAN ... I will wait for you...there's something there, that can't compare with any other" In other words, as a gay man "listen to your heart", be with a man not a woman, don't listen to people who "will always make a [gay] lover feel a fool."

In the end, the singer is heartbroken and it is he who is left feeling "a fool."