These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)

For the 1973 album by Bryan Ferry, see These Foolish Things (album). For the film, see These Foolish Things (film). For the 1938 stage show, see These Foolish Things (revue).

"These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)"
Song
Published1935 by Boosey & Hawkes
Composer(s)Jack Strachey
Lyricist(s)Eric Maschwitz as Holt Marvell

"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] According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, British cabaret singer Jean Ross,[6][7] with whom Maschwitz had a youthful liaison, was the muse for the song.[6][7][8]

  1. ^ "These Foolish Things". Music Notes. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  2. ^ De Lisle, Tim (1994). Lives of the Great Songs. London: Pavilion Books. p. 40. ISBN 1-85793-051-7.
  3. ^ De Lisle, p. 41
  4. ^ Maschwitz 1957, pp. 77–79.
  5. ^ 250 All Time Hits (Book 3). London: Wise Publications. 1990. p. 250. ISBN 0-7119-2346-9.
  6. ^ a b Parker 2004.
  7. ^ a b Frost 2013.
  8. ^ Brown 2016.