“Your Feet’s Too Big” is a song composed in 1936 by Fred Fisher with lyrics by Ada Benson. It has been recorded by many artists, notably the Ink Spots and by Fats Waller in 1939. Leon Redbone, Chubby Checker and even the Beatles have sung it although their version was never released. The song became associated with Waller who ad-libbed his own lyrics such as “Your pedal extremities are colossal, to me you look just like a fossil” and his catchphrase, “You know, your pedal extremities really are obnoxious. One never knows, do one?” It was performed in the 1978 revue of Waller tunes, Ain’t Misbehavin’.
He created what came to be known as the Harlem stride style which influenced many jazz players to follow. He’s best-known for “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Honeysuckle Rose,” but he ultimately copyrighted over 400 songs. Many of these were co-written with his friend and collaborator, Andy Razaf. Fats died of pneumonia in Kansas City when he was just 39 years old.
This song is pretty accessible, the chords are the familiar I, IV, and V in this case C, F and G. But if there’s one thing that gives character to it it’s the use of the iv, the four minor, F minor. There’s a nice blues effect in the way that the harmony changes from the F to the F minor, almost like bending notes on the lead guitar. The verse is pretty straight V – I, or G7 to C and again, G7 to C. Then the chorus goes into the F and F minor riff and back to C, then C7 to G7 and resolving to the C. The bridge uses C to Amin7 and then the borrowed dominant, D7 and G7, and that happens again to complete the eight bars. The intro is distinctive in its use of a walk of broken intervals that draws the listener in. The notes are: c, e, d, f, e, g, f, a, g, c, b, a, g, f, e, d. It would be good to play along with the track to see how the elements of verse and chorus are used in the instrumental sections.
Animator Nancy Beiman created a short for Your Feet’s Too Big in 1983. The TV comedy series Harry and the Hendersons used Leon Redbone’s version of the song as its theme tune. The film Be Kind Rewind used Fats Waller’s version of the song, although Mos Def recorded his own rendition of the song as recorded by Waller for the film.
My recollection from hearing this song in my childhood is that it was a wonderful way to express affection. All of us are insecure about some aspect of our appearance, and the feigned disgust is actually sweet. Otherwise, it’s mean, but I never took it that way.
