Pick Yourself Up

About Pick Yourself Up

"Pick Yourself Up" is a popular song composed in 1936 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy 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 its rhyming scheme is AABA style, with some variations among the A sections. The song was written for the film Swing Time (1936), where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Rogers plays a dance instructor whom Astaire follows into her studio; he pretends to have "two left feet" in order to get her to dance with him. Astaire 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 1955–56 prime time television variety series The Johnny Carson Show. It was also the theme song for the 1989–1991 British TV comedy "French Fields" starring Julia McKenzie. It was occasionally used during filmed remotes on Late Night with David Letterman. more »