We’re a Couple of Swells
“We’re a Couple of Swells” is a comedy duet song performed by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in the film Easter Parade (1948). It was written by Irving Berlin. Berlin originally wrote the song Let’s Take an Old-Fashioned Walk for the scene but the film’s producer, Arthur Freed, convinced Berlin to change this for a song that would highlight Garland’s comedic talent. Berlin wrote the song in about an hour drawing on his experience as a Tin Pan Alley popular song writer.
The film is set in 1912 in the New York Broadway Vaudeville business in which hobo acts depicting down and outs were popular with audiences. Astaire and Garland appear as tramps in worn out clothing cast off by the very rich. A swell is slang for a wealthy, elegant person.
The song lyrics suggest ways they might travel up the Avenue, (most likely the opulent Fifth Avenue on which the Vanderbilts had 10 mansions), to the club where the Vanderbilts are waiting. These are: to drive a car, skate on ice, ride on a bicycle, sail a yacht, drive a carriage, ride on a trolley car, or swim. All are rejected with a reason and the only way left to the two tramps is to walk up the Avenue.
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