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.
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-watchable.”) In 1936, Astaire recorded the song on his own 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 tune for the 1984-1986 ITV British Sitcom Fresh Fields and the 1989–1991 sequel French Fields Both starring Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers. It was occasionally used during filmed remotes on Late Night with David Letterman.
Nancy Walker performed the song on an episode of The Muppet Show with Fozzie Bear. Kate Winslet performed the song while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2004. Nat King Cole’s version was also featured in the Breaking Bad episode “Gliding Over All.”
On 20 January 2009, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, in his inauguration speech, quoted the lyrics in the song, saying “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Frank Rich linked the lyric to Fields and the movie in The New York Times, writing that it was “one subtle whiff of the Great Depression” in the address.
