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These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)
1935 song by Jack Strachey and Eric Maschwitz From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" is a standard with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, writing under the pseudonym Holt Marvell,[1] and music by Jack Strachey, both Englishmen. Harry Link, an American, sometimes appears as a co-writer; his input was probably limited to an alternative "middle eight" (bridge) which many performers prefer.[2]
It is one of a group of "Mayfair songs", like "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square".[3] Maschwitz wrote the song under his pen name, Holt Marvell, at the behest of Joan Carr for a late-evening revue broadcast by the BBC.[4] The copyright was lodged in 1936.[5] British cabaret singer Jean Ross,[6][7] with whom Maschwitz had a youthful liaison, is often credited as the muse for the song.[6][7][8]
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Creation
Although Maschwitz's wife Hermione Gingold speculated in her autobiography that the haunting jazz standard was written for either herself or actress Anna May Wong,[9] Maschwitz himself contradicted such claims.[4] Maschwitz instead cited "fleeting memories of [a] young love" as inspiring the song.[4] Most sources, including the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, posit cabaret singer Jean Ross,[6][7] with whom Maschwitz had a youthful romantic liaison, as the muse for the song.[6][7][8]
When the song was written, Maschwitz was Head of Variety at the BBC.[10] It is a list song (Maschwitz calls it a "catalogue song" in his autobiography), in this case delineating the various things that remind the singer of a lost love. The lyrics—the verse and three choruses—were written by Maschwitz during the course of one Sunday morning at his flat in London between sips of coffee and vodka.[4] Within hours of crafting the lyrics, he dictated them over the phone to Jack Strachey, and they arranged to meet the same evening to discuss the next step.[4]
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Rise to popularity
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The song was not an immediate success, and Keith Prowse, Maschwitz's agent, refused to publish it, releasing the copyright to Maschwitz himself –a stroke of luck for the lyricist. Writing in 1957, he claimed to have made £40,000 from the song.[11] Despite being featured in Spread it Abroad, a London revue of 1936,[12] it aroused no interest until the famous West Indian pianist and singer Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson discovered it on top of a piano in Maschwitz's office at the BBC. Hutch liked it and recorded it, whereupon it became a global hit.[11] This first recording by Hutch was on His Master's Voice label in 1936. Popular versions in the USA in 1936 alone were recorded by Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday, Nat Brandywynne, Carroll Gibbons, and Joe Sanders.[13] (Billie Holiday's rendering of the song with Teddy Wilson's orchestra was a favorite of the poet Philip Larkin, who said "I have always thought the words were a little pseudo-poetic, but Billie sings them with such passionate conviction that I think they really become poetry.")[14] Holiday's version of the song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart.[15]
French version
The song was translated into French under the title Ces petites choses ("These small things") and recorded by Jean Sablon in 1936 and by Ann Savoy in 2007, respectively.
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Cover versions
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 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2025) |
Numerous other versions have been recorded with various vocal arrangements including, but not limited to:
- Nat King Cole (on Just One of Those Things in 1957)
- Bing Crosby (recorded 15 December 1944),[16]
- In 1953, Billy Ward and his Dominoes recorded their version which made to No. 5 on the National Best Sellers chart.[17]
- Mel Tormé (on Tormé Meets the British in 1957)
- Connie Francis included the song on her 1959 album My Thanks to You.
- Johnny Hartman
- Frankie Laine
- Sam Cooke
- Sarah Vaughan
- Frankie Lymon
- Billie Holiday
- Etta James
- Joni James
- Rosemary Clooney, (For the Duration, 1991)
- Andrea Marcovicci, (What Is Love?, 1992)
- Aaron Neville
- Frank Sinatra, (Point of No Return, 1961)
- Sammy Davis Jr ("When the Feeling Hits You!", 1965),
- Tiny Tim
- Yves Montand
- In 2005, Rick Astley covered this song for his sixth studio album Portrait.
- In 2015, Cassandra Wilson on her Coming Forth by Day.[18]
- Rod Stewart (US AC #13, 2002)
- James Brown recorded the song three times, including a 1963 recording with strings that charted at No. 25 R&B and No. 50 Pop.[19]
- Bryan Ferry covered the Dorothy Dickson version of the song for the title track of his first solo album These Foolish Things by Island Records in 1973.[20]
- Bob Dylan sang on Triplicate (2017).
- Seth MacFarlane covered this song for his 2015 album No One Ever Tells You.
In popular culture
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- It was sung by Florence Marly in the Humphrey Bogart film Tokyo Joe (1949).
- In the 1949 film Train of Events, the song is playing on a gramophone while Peter Finch's character strangles his estranged wife.
- In the 1959 series The Twilight Zone episode A Piano in the House, the song is playing on a player piano inspiring a confession from a party guest.
- Bertrand Tavernier's 1990 film Daddy Nostalgie features this song as its theme, and it was released in the UK under the title These Foolish Things. The song is featured several times throughout the film, and the soundtrack includes three versions: a duet performed by lead actress Jane Birkin and Jimmy Rowles, a piano solo by Jimmy Rowles, and a vocal performance by Jimmy Rowles accompanied by his own piano playing.[21]
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References
Bibliography
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