Songfacts®:

• This song about the frustration of unrequited love was the third single released from Jewel's debut album. There was a real inspiration for the song, a guy Jewel fell for when she was 16. She wrote about him in her journal, developing a relationship she was "dramatically involved in on paper." Her journal entries formed into a poem, and a year later she turned it into a song, one she would often perform at coffee houses and other intimate venues when she was just starting out.
• The song was included on the 1997 soundtrack for Batman & Robin, starring George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell as the Dynamic Duo. In context of the film, the song parallels Bruce Wayne's relationship with Julie Madison (Elle Macpherson), whom he has to reject in order to protect. >>

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• Jewel was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Foolish Games" in 1998, but lost to Sarah McLachlan for "Building a Mystery."
• This was a hidden bonus track on a re-release of "You Were Meant For Me" and stayed on the charts for a record 65 weeks, the longest chart run of a single at the time.
• For her 2013 Greatest Hits album, Jewel performed this as a duet with Kelly Clarkson.
• Jewel performed this with Melissa Etheridge on VH1 Duets in 1995.
• In a 2010 Funny or Die video, Jewel disguises herself as a businesswoman and performs "Foolish Games" and "You Were Meant For Me" at a karaoke bar, returning later in the evening as herself to sing some more. Many in the stunned crowd didn't realize they were the same person.