- Pick Yourself Up
"Pick Yourself Up" is a popular song composed in 1936 by
Jerome Kern , with lyrics byDorothy Fields . It has a verse and chorus, as well as a third section, though the third section is often omitted in recordings. Like most popular songs of the era, it features a 32 bar chorus, though with an extended coda, and is done in AABA style, though with variations among the A sections.The song was written for the film "
Swing Time " (1936), where it was introduced byFred Astaire andGinger Rogers . Ginger plays a dance instructor whom Fred follows into her studio; he pretends to have two left feet in order to get her to dance with him. Fred sings the verse to her and she responds with the chorus. After an interlude, they dance to the tune. (Author John Mueller has written their dance "is one of the very greatest of Astaire's playful duets: boundlessly joyous, endlessly re-seeable.")Astaire would also record the song on his own that year for the
Brunswick label. The tune served as the theme song for the short-lived 1955-56prime time television variety series "The Johnny Carson Show ".Notable recordings
*
Anita O'Day - "Pick Yourself Up with Anita O'Day " (1956)
*Ella Fitzgerald - "Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson " (1962)
*Frank Sinatra - "Sinatra and Swingin' Brass " (1962)
*Natalie Cole - "Stardust " (1996)
*Diana Krall - "When I Look in Your Eyes " (1999)
*Sylvia McNair withAndre Previn - "Sure Thing: The Jerome Kern Songbook" (1994)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.