"Gotta Get Up" is a song written by American singer-songwriter

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ove ...

and the opening track from his 1971 album ''

Nilsson Schmilsson ''Nilsson Schmilsson'' is the seventh studio album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released by RCA Records in November 1971. It was Nilsson's most commercially successful work, producing three of his best-known songs. Among these was the numbe ...

''. It was first released as the B-side to his single " Without You". "Gotta Get Up" is an upbeat pop song with a

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

feeling and lyrics about transitioning from carefree youth to adult responsibility. Nilsson based the lyrics on his experiences working at a bank and on his parents.

Overview

"Gotta Get Up" is about the transition from carefree youth to adult responsibility. The song was originally attempted in March 1968 as a potential track for Nilsson's ''

Aerial Ballet ''Aerial Ballet'' is the third studio album by American musician Harry Nilsson, released in July 1968. Overview ''Aerial Ballet'' was Nilsson's second album for RCA Victor, and was titled after the highwire circus act of his grandparents. It ...

'' (1968) or ''

Harry Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

'' (1969). This earlier version of the song is cheerier and more uptempo than the recording that was released on ''Nilsson Schmilsson''. The remake takes on a more serious tone and features an

aleatoric Aleatoricism or aleatorism, the noun associated with the adjectival aleatory and aleatoric, is a term popularised by the musical composer Pierre Boulez, but also Witold Lutosławski and Franco Evangelisti, for compositions resulting from "action ...

glissando In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...

at the end. Producer

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...

said that the addition was inspired by the number of takes devoted to the song: "We had to do so many takes that we got cabin fever and started messing around, and Harry decided to incorporate the craziness in the song." Nilsson biographer Alyn Shipton suggests that portions of the song are based on Nilsson's former dayjob as a computer programmer at a bank, while other portions are written from the point of view of his parents. Part of the lyrics mention a woman who knew a military sailor that "would pound her for a couple of days, and then he'd sail across the bubbly waves, and those were happier days." According to ''

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'' writer Mike Powell, the lyric demonstrate Nilsson's "intelligence as a writer ... The Nilsson-ness is in the phrase ''pound her'' – a contrast between sweet nostalgia and unsentimental truth."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Matthew Greenwalk said that the lyrics illustrate a "dread of aging and facing responsibility" as Nilsson describes waking up after a wild party and "having to get on with reality – grudgingly." Aisha Harris of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that the song's "bright, infectious instrumentation belies melancholy, wistful lyrics about growing older."

Release

On October 11, 1971, "Gotta Get Up" was released as the B-side to Nilsson's single " Without You", a

Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are rec ...

cover that reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Pop and Adult Contemporary singles charts. Both songs were included on ''Nilsson Schmilsson'', released in November 1971.

''Russian Doll''

In 2019, "Gotta Get Up" was prominently featured as the "reset" song in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Russian Doll Matryoshka dolls ( ; rus, матрёшка, p=mɐˈtrʲɵʂkə, a=Ru-матрёшка.ogg), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside ano ...

''. The song plays each time the series' protagonist Nadia (co-creator

Natasha Lyonne Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Nicky Nichols on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she ...

) dies and returns to the same location – a bathroom at her 36th birthday party. Its use is similar to that of

Sonny & Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair f ...

's "

I Got You Babe "I Got You Babe" is a song performed by Sonny & Cher and written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from their debut studio album '' Look at Us''. In August 1965, their single spent three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 1 ...

" from the 1993 film ''

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day ( pdc, Grund'sau dåk, , , ; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from ...

''. Lyonne explained that in choosing the song she was struck by the "buoyant doomsday quality" of Nilsson's life. The cost of using the song so many times took up a significant portion of the music budget. His estate also limited how many times the song could be used. "Gotta Get Up" experienced a surge in streams and searches after the series was released on February 1, 2019. Spotify saw a 3,300 percent increase in streams in the U.S. after the first week of the show's release.

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

reported a 2,466 percent increase from 8,000 plays (with few downloads sold) to 216,000 plays (with 1,000 downloads sold).

Personnel

According to the 1971 LP credits: *

– vocals, piano *

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...

– bass * Jim Gordon – drums *

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his st ...

– guitar *

– percussion *Henry Krein –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

* Jim Price –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, trumpet

Use in media

* 1977: Sung by Davy Jones and

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. (born March 8, 1945) is an American actor, musician, TV producer and businessman. He is best known as the drummer and one of three primary vocalists for the pop-rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and multiple reunions ...

in their 1977 stage production of Nilsson's ''

The Point! ''The Point!'' is the sixth studio album by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson, released in late 1970. It was accompanied by an animated film adaptation directed by Fred Wolf, which aired in early February 1971 on the ABC-TV netw ...

'' in London at the Mermaid Theatre. An original cast recording featuring their cover of the song was also released. * 2006: Featured in the romantic comedy ''

A Good Year ''A Good Year'' is a 2006 romantic comedy film directed and produced by Ridley Scott. The film stars Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard, Didier Bourdon, Abbie Cornish, Tom Hollander, Freddie Highmore and Albert Finney. The film is loosely based ...

'', starring

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

and

Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress, film producer, singer, and environmentalist who is widely known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters in both European and Hollywood productions. She has received ...

. * 2011: Featured as the intro song for tv show Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays. * 2019: Featured in the Netflix series ''

''. * 2022: Featured in Episode 2 “Co-Pilot” of the CBS series ''

So Help Me Todd ''So Help Me Todd'' is an American legal drama television series, created by Scott Prendergast, that premiered on September 29, 2022, on CBS. The series follows a talented but directionless private investigator, who begrudgingly agrees to work ...

''.

Cover versions

* 1977: Davy Jones &

, ''The Point – Original Cast Recording'' * 2014: Annie Nilsson, '' This Is the Town – A Tribute to Nilsson Volume 1'' * 2016:

Ty Segall Ty (stylized as ty) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It was founded by Ty Warner in 1986. It designs, develops and sells products, most notably Beanie Babies, exclusively to speci ...

References

External links

* * * Further reading * {{authority control 1971 songs Harry Nilsson songs Songs written by Harry Nilsson Song recordings produced by Richard Perry Music hall songs