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These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)
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Wikipedia article
"'These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)'" is a standard with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, writing under the pseudonym Holt Marvell, 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.
It is one of a group of "Mayfair songs", like "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square".De Lisle, p. 41 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. The copyright was lodged in 1936. According to the 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography', British cabaret singer Jean Ross, with whom Maschwitz had a youthful liaison, was the muse for the song.
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, Maschwitz himself contradicted such claims. Maschwitz instead cited "fleeting memories of [a] young love" as inspiring the song. Most sources, including the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, posit cabaret singer Jean Ross, with whom Maschwitz had a youthful romantic liaison, as the muse for the song.
When the song was written, Maschwitz was Head of Variety at the BBC. It is a list song (Maschwitz calls it a "catalogue song" in his biography), 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. 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.
Rise to popularity
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. Despite being featured in 'Spread it Abroad', a London revue of 1936,De Lisle p. 40 it aroused no interest until the famous West Indian pianist and singer Leslie Hutchinson ("Hutch") discovered it on top of a piano in Maschwitz's office at the BBC. "Hutch" liked it and recorded it, whereupon it became a great success and was recorded by musicians all over the world. This first recording by "Hutch" was by HMV in 1936. Popular versions in the USA in 1936 were by Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday, Nat Brandywynne, Carroll Gibbons and Joe Sanders.
Billie Holiday's rendering of the song with Teddy Wilson's orchestra was a favorite of 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."Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio Four, 17 July 1976 Holiday's version of the song peaked at No. 5 on the 'Billboard' Pop Songs chart.De Lisle p.42
French version
The song was translated in French under the title 'Ces petites choses' ("These small things") and recorded by Jean Sablon in 1936 and by Ann Savoy in 2007.Interpretations
Various other versions have been recorded including vocal arrangements featuring:
*Nat King Cole (on 'Just One of Those Things' in 1957)
*Bing Crosby (recorded December 15, 1944),
*In 1953, Billy Ward and his Dominoes recorded their version which made to No. 5 on the National Best Sellers chart.
*Johnny Hartman
*Frankie Laine
*Sam Cooke
*Sarah Vaughan
*Ella Fitzgerald
*Billie Holiday
*Etta James
*Joni James
*Aaron Neville
*Frank Sinatra, ('Point of No Return', 1961)
*Sammy Davis Jr ("When the Feeling Hits You!", 1965),
*Yves Montand
*In 2005, Rick Astley covered this song for his 6th studio album Portrait.
*In 2015, Cassandra Wilson on her 'Coming Forth by Day'.
*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.White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In 'Star Time' (pp. 5459) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
*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.De Lisle p. 43
*Bob Dylan sang on 'Triplicate' (2017).
*Seth Macfarlane covered this song for his 2015 album No One Ever Tells You.
Popular culture
*It was sung by Florence Marly in the Humphrey Bogart film 'Tokyo Joe' (1949).
References
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Category:1930s jazz standards
Category:1936 songs
Category:Pop standards
Category:Torch songs
Category:Songs with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz
Category:Songs with music by Jack Strachey
Category:Frank Sinatra songs
Category:Billie Holiday songs
Category:Carmen McRae songs
Category:Mildred Bailey songs
Category:James Brown songs
Category:Billy Ward and his Dominoes songs
Category:Jazz compositions in E-flat major
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