The Swinging London - Gibbons: These Foolish Things, 1936

[CvBsTube]

How wonderful! Thank you!! :-)

[stlivermore]

Thanx for sharing, this is beautiful.

[XageratorX]

Turner Layton, I have the 78rpm.

[7happyjack]

i think it'sTurner Layton. His voice is lighter than that of Hutch and the piano more lilting

[orlandogibbonsjazz]

i think you might give a young hutch some credit on here..

[hesterthrale]

So wonderfully exceptional, voice and poice. Love it. Thank You; it's an icon on my screen for the past month, since I founf it.

Thank You! So Much!

[paulkate72]

Just marvellous! Carroll Gibbons as leader surely was one of the best orchestras whether with the Savoy Hotel Orpheans or His Boyfriends (how that sounds odd today!)

[peedutt]

What would the world be like without music and literature ?

[ddkoda]

An era of charm, grace and elegance nearly forgotten in today's world.

[mvnkct]

Oh the memories of the gorgeous music and dance numbers of the 1930s!!!

[Faboobazoo]

Sorry, but this isn't the wonderful Carroll Gibbons. It's the equally wonderful Tuner Layton.

[1912cunard]

I have heard of the song, but not this version. Very chilling, its like you can imagine you are there in the room. Thanks

[meredith218461]

1930s elegance and style encapsulated in this performance. A delightful vocal reminder of a bygone era.

[ginoricca]

Complete beauty in music.

[chkjns]

InDEED beautiful ! Making my channel a shrine TO that beauty with music playlists for each of the past 100 years, 4 generations of pop music, making my playlists your escape to any past year !

[saxondog2001]

I love this song! It can jerk a tear like no other song can. Thanks for posting this ... and all the other wonderful renderings.

Brian

[VoceVersatile]

Beautiful sung and enunciated in the English style. The voice is rich in all registers but never overstates ***** Thanks for posting

[Ejgibb]

Fabulous song and Video.

[paxguns]

Superb. Thank you so much you have made an old man very happy.

[LouisLeeKH]

The singer is Turner Layton.

[LouisLeeKH]

The piano was played by Turner Layton himself.

[78timothy]

Wow what a great record "These Foolish Thngs"

The American version does not use the verse. What a loss. The verse simply intensifies the message of this reflective song of love lost.

I sing the Rod Stewart version at Karaoke.

Love to find the english version with the verse for Karaoke though. The additional english lyrics are priceless as well.

[78timothy]

The movie you are referring to, featuring the "Il de France" was called "Her Last Voyage" & was released someshere around 1960-1962. Starred Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, & George Sanders. Filmed on Board the Ship, it depicted the Ship gradually sinking due to a number of structural problems, Boilers exploding etc...I didn't know that the Japanese - heavy purchaser of scrap metal bought. sank, refloated, & then scraapped the vessel. Great Art-Deco Interiors.Love the Verse. you never hear it.

[peteressex]

Thanks to those who cleared up who was performing this. I thought it was Hutch but Layton's voice is better IMHO.

[PiccDan]

Yes, the Australian Brian Lawrence does sing on Carroll Gibbons 1936 recording of These Foolish Things, but this isn't it! This is Turner Layton's recording. I have an acetate of Turner Layton singing this on air c.1936, which once belonged to the composer Jack Strachey. Perhaps it was written for Turner Layton?

[PiccDan]

This is the lovely Turner Layton recording of These Foolish Things (he sings and accompanies himself at the piano). It has nothing to do with Carroll Gibbons (although Gibbons also recorded the song with his Savoy Orpheans). Turner Layton was once part of a duo called Layton and Johnston, which was hugely popular in the 1920s and 30s and sold millions of records.

[DK6400Brian]

Simply amazing. This just gets to me. Can't describe it. I'm touched !

[rgsfield]

The ship was rented to the movie makers by the Japanese scrappers, who'd purchased Ile de France for recycling after it was taken out of UK service. After the film work was completed it was re-floated and dismantled in Japan, the fate most old ocean liners. You won't find it in California, except made into older Datsuns & Toyotas.

[mrbigarms]

What is it about ths music!

It just warms the heart and uplifts the spirit!

[wengilee]

GORGEOUS !

[jozefsterkens]

when he sings "The Ile de France" he means the French liner from the 1920/30's, the ship was bought by Hollywood in the 1950's to turn the dissarter movie "The Last Voyage" with Robert Starck, they actually let the ship sink with a few explosions . The French were shocked.

[TigerCool]

this song is actually writen by a BBC director, for a Asian American actress named Anna May Wong in the early century.

[Fenhalls]

The words and music were by Harry Link, Holt Marvell (his real name was Eric Maschwitz), and Jack Strachey. Maschwitz (a Cambridge graduate), who was responsible for the lyrics, was at one time the head of Light Entertainment at the BBC. His other songs include "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." And yes, he did have a fling with Anna May Wong and the song was meant to encapsulate his longing for her.

[tsyitly]

I'm sure this is Turner Layton; I have a 78rpm disc of him singing and playing 'Boom'. Also a nice record.

[tsnrhm]

A nice little piece of cultural history. Thanks of posting.

[laughinglion24]

The singer and piano player is Turner Layton, an African-American jazz musician of immense talent whose career found greatest success in London. You can buy this recording from internet bookstores: search music for "Turner Layton: These Foolish Things." It's a British CD.

Apparently the guy sold millions of records in his own day. Sad how we don't remember his genius. This is my favorite interpretation of my very favorite jazz tune.

[GrenvilleT]

What a wonderful comment. I wish I heard such details more these days.

[4521556]

what exactly does the label say? what's on the reverse? these bands often had 'pro' crooners as guests and the singer's accent is very BBC

[4521556]

I've just discovered that I am not the only guy into this stuff...I'm 56y and started collecting 78's in London when I was 14y. The first LP re-issued was Harry Roy about 1965..I think..it was really novel. I collected any Savoy recordings..now I have to go through them. It sounds like Hutch but isn't. I'm lucky that I danced on the Savoy's old raising dance floor !!! to be cntd

[GrenvilleT]

How wonderful. Do let me know more from 'On the Air'.

[4521556]

Not Gibbons singing

[redtombone]

so so good. a lost age

[merrihew]

I know I commented on this a month ago, but I wanted to say that I have come back to this record more than any other in my favorites or subscriptions.

[peteressex]

Lovely sound. I am simply amazed at how much music from this era is on utube!

Is that actually C Gibbons vocal?

[kspm01]

Breathtaking refinement!!! Thank you for sharing.

[genia106]

Sheer sophistication, romantic on the highest plain! Incredibly beautiful.

[merrihew]

Sounds like he's been listening to Hutch. Hutch does a very similar version of this song. Wonderful wonderful record.

[barbcard]

Sweet nostalgia. Reminds me of my long ago college days, cashmere sweaters, strings of pearls, camel's hair coats, and nothing more pressing than an essay due for English class...