With a Little Bit of Luck

This article is about the 1956 song sung by Stanley Holloway. For the 1978 song by Wings, see With a Little Luck. For the 1999 song by DJ Luck & MC Neat, see A Little Bit of Luck.
"With a Little Bit of Luck"
Holloway as Doolittle (center), Dilworth as Harry (left), McLennan as Jamie (right) in "With a Little Bit of Luck" segment, 1957
Song
Published1956
GenreShowtune
Composer(s)Frederick Loewe
Lyricist(s)Alan Jay Lerner

"With a Little Bit of Luck" is a popular song by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, written for the 1956 Broadway play My Fair Lady.[1]

It was sung by Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle in both the original stage and film versions.[2]

It is sung by Eliza's bin man father, Alfred P. Doolittle and is about a list of everyday situations which one finds themselves in, and a desire to take the easy way out as "With a Little Bit of Luck" one's fate might change, thus avoiding any responsibility. The song is traditionally sung in a deep Cockney accent.

The song occurs twice at Act 1 in the musicals. Both "With a Little Bit of Luck" scenes are at the same tenement in Tottenham Court Road, London in 1912. Firstly, Alfred P. Doolittle sings along with bin men Harry and Jamie who are his drinking companions after the scene Eliza's "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" and secondly (reprise), three days later, with new verses to hear of Eliza he sings along with all the common people there (ensemble) after Prof. Higgins' "I'm an Ordinary Man". However in the Holloway's film version in 1964, this song occurred only after "I'm an Ordinary Man" and some verses were omitted.

When Alfred P. Doolittle sang the other of his two songs "Get Me to the Church on Time" (Act 2), he was not an impoverished workingman but rich middle-class owing to Higgins' recommendation to an American millionaire, although Doolittle was a man who didn't want "middle-class morality". Clearly, "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church on Time" are related and similar to each other as music hall-style songs.[3]

  1. ^ ""With a Little Bit of Luck" from 'My Fair Lady' Sheet Music". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  2. ^ My Fair LadyThe British Film Institute, accessed 12 January 2012
  3. ^ Dominic, McHugh (2012-07-09). Loverly: The Life and Times of My Fair Lady. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 90. ISBN 9780199827305.