What a Fool Believes: A Memoir

Serviceable memoir from the poster boy for “Yacht Rock” and a shout-out to my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, where McDonald was born and raised (Ferguson, actually - !!!) I was most interested in reading about his time with my favorite band, Steely Dan, and he does deliver a few classic Donald Fagen and Walter Becker stories. Then he joined the Doobie Brothers, and despite his protestations to the contrary I still think he ruined them (the rocking “China Grove” vs. easy listening “Minute by Minute” - you be the judge).

McDonald did a lot more drugs and alcohol than I would have guessed, although he writes about their hazardous effects on his health without much emotion. In fact, the entire book reads like someone who has gone through therapy and understands the roots of his unhealthy behavior, primarily on an intellectual basis.

Although the book didn't wow me, I respect McDonald for not taking his reputation too seriously; he recalls the SCTV skit in which Rick Moranis plays McDonald, riding like the wind to repeatedly sing his six-word backing vocal (“such a long way to gooooo”) on Christopher Cross' smash hit fondly and without rancor.