[3] Speaking to Record Mirror in 1986, Gregory spoke of how Heaven 17 came to work with Ruffin, "We wrote the song for a French film that we were doing some music for, and they wanted it in a certain mood.

Ware knew Ruffin from the Council Collective, the Soul Deep thing, so he cheekily phoned him up, and asked him if he'd do a guide vocal for us.

Ware commented, "After a six months wait, during which time the film project fell through, "The Foolish Thing to Do" was a little too good to waste, and a little too, er, smouldering for Mr Gregory's voice.

He described the song as "an absolute gem", but felt the single's April release was too early, stating that "its laid-back feel is far more suited to long, lazy days of summer spent sipping exotic cocktails by a sunkissed beach".

[8] Stuart Bailie of Record Mirror was critical of the song, commenting, "It's all a bit sad, really, that a collection of once distinguished characters should collaborate on such a banal piece of Radio 2 soul.