With 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
Published	1956
Genre	Showtune
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]