Many critics have written of the relationship song (and the album it is from) as reflecting a larger, general zeitgeist for the post-Vietnam War, post-Nixon era Baby boomer audience, particularly the notable "You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight" line in the chorus.

[6] Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn said that "Fountain of Sorrow" "speaks of the perennial search for someone new – an effort that combines some renewed optimism with the lingering knowledge of past failures.

"[7] In his 1974 Rolling Stone review of Late for the Sky, Stephen Holden wrote that the song "develops parallel themes of sex and nothingness, fantasy and realism, as Browne, looking at the photograph of a former lover, recalls:" "In the chorus, highly romanticized sexuality becomes a 'fountain of sorrow, fountain of light.'

"[10] In his 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, Tom Moon wrote that Browne's lost seeker's "inquiry leads him into the minefields of memory" on "Fountain of Sorrow," in which "a photograph opens the floodgates".

Zimmerman described it as "a brooding ballad and excellent example of Browne’s ability to draw on remorse and pathos" and said that "it offers enough optimism to ensure at least a semi-happy ending" but felt that "it may have been a bit too introspective to attain a wider reach.