Pick Up the Pieces (Average White Band song)



"Pick Up the Pieces" is a 1974 song by the Average White Band from their second album, AWB. On the single, songwriting credit was given to founding member and saxophonist Roger Ball and guitarist Hamish Stuart individually and the entire band collectively. It is essentially an instrumental, apart from the song's title being shouted at several points in the song.

Chart performance
"Pick Up the Pieces" was released in the United Kingdom in July 1974 but failed to chart. When the album was released in the United States in October 1974, radio stations there started to play the song, and on 22 February 1975, it went to the top of the US singles chart and peaked at number five on the soul charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 20 song for 1975. After its US success, the song charted in the UK and climbed to number six. "Pick Up the Pieces" also made it to number eleven on the US disco chart.

Key signature
The song is in the key of F minor.

References in popular culture
After the song's success, The J.B.'s recorded an answer song, "Pick Up the Pieces One By One". The single was credited to "A.A.B.B.", or "Above Average Black Band". Reportedly, the primary motivation for the answer song was the appropriation of the bass line to James Brown's "Hot Pants Road".

It is heard in a 2013 TV commercial for Bank of America.

The song is one of many unusual cover songs the accordion-based comedy rock band Those Darn Accordions have performed live.

The song was heard during the General Zod, Ursa, and Non restaurant fight scene in Superman II (1980). It was also used in the 1985 film The Falcon and the Snowman, the 1990 film The Spirit of '76, the 1996 films Swingers and The People vs. Larry Flynt, the 1997 film Private Parts, the 1999 film Bowfinger, the 2002 films Undercover Brother and Crazy as Hell, the US version of the 1998 French film Taxi, the 2004 film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the 2005 film Roll Bounce, the 2006 film Running with Scissors, the 2008 film Semi-Pro, and the 2010 film Iron Man 2. It was also featured on American Dad! in the episode, "Stanny Boy and Frantastic".

On the TV show Martin starring Martin Lawrence, the character of "hustle man" (played by SNL alum Tracy Morgan) gives a comedic performance of the song using a kazoo attached to a saxophone.