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 conquer'd me;
When you did that to me, I knew somehow this had to be.
The winds of March that make my heart a dancer,
A telephone that rings, but who's to answer?
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things remind me of you.
Eric Maschwitz, who worte the lyrics to this
song in 1935 under the pseudonym Holt Marvell, was an executive with the
British Broadcasting Corporation, and the song was created for a special BBC
musical program. "These Foolish Things" turned up the next year in
a London revue, Spread It Abroad, and following the suggestion of
that title, it finally reached the United States and became a memorable Billie
Holiday recording
Other artists who have recorded this and made it big:
Frank Sinatra
Nat 'King' Cole
Bing Crosby
Benny Goodman
Chet Baker
Count Basie
Dave Brubeck
Ella Fitzgerald
Stan Getz
Errol Garner
Charlie Parker
Art Pepper
Teddy Wilson
Lester Young