Journalist, Political Reporter, Cultural Critic, Editor/Proofreader
Alex V. Henderson
Philadelphia, PA
vixenatr
March 2017
Lest We Forget: Dorothy Fields
By Alex Henderson
Dorothy Fields was one of Tin Pan Alley’s most prolific lyricists, penning the words to numerous standards in the ‘20s-40s. While Fields had a strong connection to Broadway, Hollywood and popular music, her lyrics have received a considerable amount of attention by jazz vocalists over the years.
Born in Allenhurst, New Jersey on Jul. 15th, 1905 and raised in New York City, Fields came from a family heavily involved in the arts: her father, an immigrant from Poland, became a vaudeville comedian in the late 19th century and went on to produce Broadway shows in the early 1900s-10s and both of her older brothers became Broadway writers as well.
Composer J. Fred Coots, who Fields met in 1926, proved to be a valuable connection when, in 1928, he introduced her to Jimmy McHugh. With McHugh composing the melodies and Fields writing the lyrics, their partnership resulted in a long list of standards, which include “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, “Diga Diga Doo” and “I Must Have That Man” (all included in the musical revue Blackbirds of 1928) in the late ‘20s and “Exactly Like You”, “On the Sunny Side of the Street”, “Don’t Blame Me” and “I’m in the Mood for Love” in the ‘30s. Fields’ association with another Tin Pan Alley icon, Jerome Kern, proved just as lucrative, resulting in ‘30s standards such as “The Way You Look Tonight,” “Pick Yourself Up” and “A Fine Romance.”
When Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sang the latter in the 1936 film Swing Time, Fields achieved superstar status as a lyricist. The song was recorded by everyone from Billie Holiday in 1936 and Joe Williams in 1956 to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong as a 1957 duet. Fitzgerald revisited “A Fine Romance” on her 1963 album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook, which featured Nelson Riddle arrangements and also included “The Way You Look Tonight” and the Kern-Fields songs “Remind Me” and “You Couldn’t Be Cuter.” Bandleader Duke Ellington was an early proponent of Fields’ work, recording vocal versions of “Diga Diga Doo” and “Bandanna Babies” (also from Blackbirds of 1928) in the late ‘20s and instrumental versions of McHugh and Kern melodies co-written with Fields.
Jazz instrumentalists have been voracious consumers of the Kern and McHugh songbooks and one of the most interesting examples of a McHugh/Fields gem taking on a whole new life came when saxophonist James Moody recorded an instrumental version of “I’m in the Mood for Love” in 1949. The lyrics that singer Eddie Jefferson wrote for Moody’s improvised saxophone solo resulted in “Moody’s Mood for Love”, a definitive example of vocalese. Fields kept busy long after Tin Pan Alley’s heyday, collaborating with composer Albert Hague in the 1959 Broadway musical Redhead and Cy Coleman on musicals including Sweet Charity in 1966 and Seesaw in 1973.
One of the best-known songs from Fields’ late period was Sweet Charity’s “If My Friends Could See Me Now”, originally performed by Gwen Verdon on Broadway and receiving a hit disco makeover from singer Linda Clifford in 1978.
Fields was 68 when she died of a heart attack in New York City on Mar. 28th, 1974.•••
A tribute to Fields is at 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series Mar. 18th-20th. See Calendar.
Recommended Listening:
• Oscar Peterson—Plays the Jimmy McHugh Songbook (Verve, 1959)
• Ella Fitzgerald—Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook (Verve, 1963)
• Dorothy Fields—An Evening With Dorothy Fields (DRG, 1972)
• Mark Murphy—Sings Mostly Dorothy Fields and Cy Coleman (Audiophile, 1977)
• Daryl Sherman—I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed: A Celebration of Jimmy McHugh (Audiophile, 1990)
• Various Artists—The American Songbook Series: Dorothy Fields (Smithsonian, 1995)
Copyright 2022 Alex V. Henderson. All rights reserved.
Alex V. Henderson
Philadelphia, PA
vixenatr