Pick Yourself Up, composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields, has been a source of inspiration to me for years – a great lift when you’ve had a bad day.
And even if you haven’t had a bad day, it will raise your spirits. Now, enjoy this great American song in two stellar versions. The lyrics:
Nothing’s impossible, I have found,
For when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up, dust myself off,
Start all over again.
First, here are the great Mel Tormé and George Shearing. Utter joy in music.
And this is the original from Swing Time 1936 – with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In part 1, Fred plays clumsy so he can have a dance lesson with Ginger.
(the last line in the clip above leads to Ginger Rogers getting fired; now Fred Astaire has to drop the “I can’t dance” routine to save her. See below.)
If you care to hear a great vocal group version, look for Phil Mattson’s killer arrangement. I’m very fond of the version sung by VoicesIowa in 1994.
Wishing you a day of starting all over again.
Nerdy P.S.: Interestingly, the tune follows standard AABA song form, but is one of only a few songs I know of where the second A section is modulated to a different key (up a whole step) but otherwise identical. The other that springs to mind is All The Things You Are (down a fourth), also written by Jerome Kern, in 1939. That crazy Kern!