Maybe by the time I'm fifty, I'll get up and do a nifty...

Today I thought I'd highlight one of my favorite songs. You may have noticed that I'm changing things up a bit on my blog. Well, I've given it some thought and I decided to add some variety to it to make it more interesting. For example, I can compare/contrast different films, pay homage to the great actors/actresses/dancers/singers/directors that made old movies great, and spotlight some of my favorite scenes and musical numbers.

I had originally planned to talk about "From This Moment On," which is featured in Kiss Me Kate (1953), but as that song has 6 dancers, several of them rather famous and all of them important, I finally decided that was a bit overwhelming to start off with. So, instead, I'm going to focus on one of my favorites, "Pick Yourself Up" from Swing Time (1936).

This song is a classic Fred & Ginger number. The lyrics, sung at the beginning of the scene are positive and funny, written by the great Jerome Kern. He wrote all of the music for Swing Time, and several of the songs are among my favorites in the Fred & Ginger collection. I've heard the dance described as some of Ginger's best acting and in watching it you'll understand why. It's delightful to watch: romantic, funny, and totally uplifting. It can be seen out of context, easily recognizable as a great bit of dancing, or in the context of the film, watching a romance budding between two near-strangers (by "near-strangers" I mean that they know each other well enough for her to be irritated with him and for him to be enamored of her, but to know little other than that). I watch this dance when I'm feeling blue and when I'm feeling happy and, regardless of my mood, my heart swells every time he lifts her over the gate at the end.

Enjoy!