Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fieldswas an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her most well known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight", "A Fine Romance", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "Pick Yourself Up", "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "You Couldn't Be Cuter." Throughout her career, she collaborated with various influential figures in the American musical theater, including Jerome Kern, Cy Coleman, Irving Berlin, and Jimmy McHugh. Along with Ann Ronell,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSongwriter
Date of Birth15 July 1905
CountryUnited States of America
A songwriter should have friends who are similarly interested; should move about in the milieu of work he has chosen for himself.
A song must move the story ahead. A song must take the place of dialogue. If a song halts the show, pushes it back, stalls it, the audience won't buy it; they'll be unhappy.
I do not think men have more talent. There are a great many women in the arts; novelists, painters, sculptors, poets-but the proportion is far lower in the field of song writing.
There aren't more lady songwriters for the same reason that there aren't more lady doctors or lady accountants or lady lawyers; not enough women have the time for careers.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning could write a poem two pages long. Could she have brought it to a music publisher?
Write what you feel. Write because of that need for expression.
I began to be impressed by what made a good book-how you needed to have a sensible story, a plot that developed, with a beginning, a middle, and an end that would tie everything together.
If you don't have a story that will hold the audience, you won't have a successful show.
In a show or a movie, one must work with many people. Many women just don't have the time for it.
Love is the reason for it all.
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again.
No matter where I run, I meet myself there.
Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street.
Grab your coat, and get your hat Leave your worry on the doorstep Just direct your feet To the sunny side of the street.