Song of the week #24

Fallen on My Feet

At the time that I wrote Fallen on My Feet in 2016 it was the only track I have ever written on a ukulele and it still has that distinction. It was a borrowed instrument, from my friend Cavan, and I was using it to practise a song for our 2016 Phoenix Theatre show – Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head. I’d had the optimistic phrase I’ve Fallen on my Feet running through my head for about a year previously so the line may have been influenced by the Burt Bacharach title or that may just be coincidence. (Incidentally, I’m surprised that no one else seems to have written a song with this title.)

It wasn’t long before the title phrase dragged along the rest of the song in its wake and I used one of my favourite chord sequences for the “They say that every cloud has a silver lining” section. I borrowed the chord sequence from George Harrison’s “Something” (the “I don’t wanna leave her now” line) and it’s a sequence that works well on a ukulele. When Paul McCartney plays George’s Something these days he always begins it with a ukulele introduction as a tribute to his fellow Beatle. However, I was afraid of overdoing this chord sequence (you can have too much of a good thing!) so I changed it to another, related sequence for the “But don’t you know that just a little while ago” line to give more harmonic variety.

I made an initial demo of the song using ukulele in the style of Bruno Mars but it didn’t seem to work. After briefly considering a Tamla Motown approach to the song, I settled on a style which was much closer to my comfort zone: the Beatles in their Sergeant Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour periods. 

With a Little Help from My Friends, Getting Better and Your Mother Should Know all feature a repeated four-in-a-bar chord pattern on piano and guitar and I can remember being blown away by Paul McCartney’s syncopated bass line on With a Little Help from My Friends when I first heard it. It is that melodic bass style which I have tried to reproduce in “Fallen on my Feet”.

The lyrics to “Fallen” are more optimistic and upbeat than many of my songs. I can remember friends being surprised that I had included the Americanism “Sweeter than the candy from a soda-pop store” but this was quite intentional. I wanted to recapture that American small-town homeliness which pervades my favourite Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life. The scene with the young George Bailey, Mary and Violet in the soda store has always struck a chord with me – I have no idea why!

For the video to Fallen on my Feet I chose an earlier American movie theme – that of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, who were constantly getting themselves in and out of catastrophic scrapes in spectacular fashion. And I couldn’t resist using the famous falling building sequence for the opening of the video. I made the video shortly before I lose nearly 2 stone in weight and, although to my eyes the video is a little "clunky", I have a soft spot for it and so, apparently, do my YouTube viewers as it is second only in popularity to my Hampshire Born.

Click on the link below to view the YouTube video.

Fallen on my Feet
I’ve fallen on my feet
And I don’t need to be discreet     
Cos life currently is sweet
It’s sweeter than the sugar that I stir in my tea
Sweeter that the nectar from a honey-bee.
Life’s sweet. So neat. Since I’ve fallen on my feet.
        
They say that every cloud has a silver lining
Well just right now I think the sun must be shining for me.
And I think you will agree.
But it didn’t used to be. No no.

Well don’t you know that just a little while ago.
I was beaten down so low
That I thought I would never find a place where I could go
But with a little bit of help from a lot of those I know
It was just a little while till I was ready to grow my wings
And fly way up there into the sky.

Cos I’ve fallen on my feet
And I’m feeling quite upbeat             
Cos life currently is sweet
It’s sweeter than the roses growing round your front door
Sweeter that the candy from a soda pop store
Life’s sweet. So neat. Since I’ve fallen on my feet. 
       
They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn
Well take a look at me now and you would think that I was born
To tread this way. But I think I’d have to say.
That I nearly went astray. Yeah yeah.

Well don’t you know that if it hadn’t been for you
I don’t know what I would do.
I would probably have ended up in something of a stew
But with a little bit of love from the people that I knew
It was just a little while until I grew those big white wings
To fly way up there into the sky.

I’ve fallen on my feet
And I don’t need to be discreet             
Cos life currently is sweet
It’s sweeter than the sugar that I stir in my tea
Sweeter that the nectar from a honey-bee.
Life’s sweet. So neat. Since I’ve fallen on my feet.    It’s sweet    
Since I’ve fallen on my feet.
I’ve fallen on my feet