these foolish things (remind me of you)

 




Eric Maschwitz and Jack Strachey copyrighted this catalogue song about the way that any old thing can remind us of the ones we love. Maschwitz wrote the lyrics under his pen name, Holt Marvell on a Sunday morning in his London flat. He read them to Jack Strachey over the phone and he began work on the music. Harry Link made minor changes for the American public and is often included in the credits for the song. There have been numerous versions by artists including Dorothy Dickson, Leslie Hutchinson, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Frankie Laine, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Aaron Neville, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Bryan Ferry, Rod Stewart, Paris Bennett, Michael Bublé, Stan Getz, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Count Basie, and Lester Young.

Bryan Ferry performed this version for television in 1974. He titled his first solo album after the song.

Emmy Rossum

Benny Goodman and his Orchestra performed this number one hit version with Helen Ward on vocal.

Pianist Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra recorded “These Foolish Things” with Billie Holiday on vocal and Ben Webster on tenor saxophone. It made it to number five.

Ol' Blue Eyes recorded his weepy world-weary version in 1962.




Ella Fitzgerald

Michael Bublé

 Thelonious Monk

A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces,

An airline ticket to romantic places,

And still my heart has wings...

These foolish things remind me of you.

A tinkling piano in the next apartment,

Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant,

A fairground's painted swings...

These foolish things remind me of you.

You came, you saw,

You conquered me.

When you did that to me,

I knew somehow this had to be.

The winds of March that made my heart a dancer,

A telephone that rings,

And who's to answer?

Oh, how the ghost of you clings...

These foolish things remind me of you.

The first daffodil and long excited cables,

And candle lights on little corner tables,

And still my heart has wings...

These foolish things remind me of you.

The park at evening when the bell has sounded,

The 'Ile-de-France' with all the gulls around it,

The beauty that is spring's...

These foolish things remind me of you.

How strange, how sweet

To find you still,

These things are dear to me,

They seem to bring you near to me.

The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations,

Silk stockings tossed aside, dance invitations.

Oh, how the ghost of you clings!

These foolish things remind me of you...

These foolish things remind me of you.