Editing Fore! (section)

== Music and lyrics ==
"[[Jacob's Ladder (Huey Lewis and the News song)|Jacob's Ladder]]" was originally meant for a [[Bruce Hornsby]] album that [[Huey Lewis]] was producing.<ref name=Horns>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831015940/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038|title=Question of the Week|date=August 25, 2013|archive-date=August 31, 2013|url=http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038|website=Hueylewisandthenews.com}}</ref> Hornsby did not like the arrangement his band played, and it was given to Lewis.<ref name=Horns />

"[[Doing It All for My Baby]]" was written by Mike Duke and Phil Cody. Duke wrote the song and then recorded vocals himself (the band playing backing parts and instruments), with the intention of getting a record contract for his own solo career.<ref name=Duke>{{cite web |url=http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |title=Huey Lewis Fan Q&A: March 23, 2014 |access-date=January 5, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329005041/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |url-status=dead }}</ref> When that plan fell through, Lewis decided to record a version with his own vocals for the album.<ref name=Duke />

Lewis stated he originally wrote the lyrics for "[[Hip to Be Square]]" in a [[Grammatical person|third person]] perspective, "He used to be a renegade..."<ref name=ew /> He referenced the book ''[[Bobos in Paradise]]'' in describing the song's inspiration, explaining that the song was about the "phenomenon where people from the '60s started to drop back in, cut their hair, work out, that kind of crap, but they kept their bohemian tastes. ... bourgeois bohemians." Lewis later modified the lyrics to be in the first person as he believed it would enhance the joke, but stated this had unintentionally led to the interpretation of the song as an "anthem for square people".<ref name=ew>{{cite magazine|url =https://ew.com/article/2008/08/04/huey-lewis-the/|title =Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 7: Special Huey Lewis & the News edition)|first =Mandi|last =Blerly|magazine =Entertainment Weekly|date =August 4, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Graff |first1=Gary |title=How Huey Lewis Overcame Commercial 'Pressure' for Massive 'Fore!' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/huey-lewis-and-the-news-fore/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=September 22, 2021 |access-date=3 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

According to Lewis, the album track "Forest for the Trees" was written for and about kids struggling with life issues as an uplifting message for them.<ref name=Trees>{{cite web|url=http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103194805/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |archive-date=November 3, 2019 |url-status=dead |title=Huey Lewis Fan Q&A: June 17, 2019|access-date=August 30, 2021}}</ref> Lewis based it off the letters he received from young fans at the time who would talk about how important his music was to them.<ref name=Trees />

"[[The Power of Love (Huey Lewis and the News song)|The Power of Love]]", originally from the [[Back to the Future (soundtrack)|soundtrack]] of the 1985 film ''[[Back to the Future]]'', is included as a bonus track on international editions of the album. The song was the band's first chart-topper on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The critical reception of the album was mixed with Glenn O'Brien in [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] noting that 'what saves it for me is that songs are good songs. And Huey still sings with heart and soul'.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O'Brien |first=Glenn |date=December 1986 |title=Fore! review |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FL-rqqrDxb8C&pg=PA36 |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|SPIN]] |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=36–7 |via=Google Books}}</ref>