PICK YOURSELF UP by Mel Torme (DCC Jazz, 1998)

Life is a series of ups and downs - a continuous challenge to renew and reinvent yourself. You can be rolling along, on top of the world, then the next day become lost in a fog of turmoil. I have experienced this several times in my life, most bitterly in recent years. But, I am not alone in this - I believe it is a universally shared phenomenon - and, in this song Mel Torme offers, if not an antidote to disaster, a prescription for practical optimism.

Pick Yourself Up was originally written in 1936, by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern, to be performed by the inimitable Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the movie Swing Time. In the number Fred, breezily attempting to seduce dance teacher Ginger, begs for her instruction. This charade of awkwardness, of course, quickly develops into the most delicious demonstration of tandem terpsichore ever filmed. 

Mel’s equally breezy, live, vocal gymnastics, abetted by wizard bassist Jay Leonhart, transforms the song, imbuing it with a deeper meaning. In their hands it becomes a brisk, bracing splash of cold water in the face, saying “Buck up, Boyo - You’re not defeated! Try, try again!