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
The audience, going along with the story, knows when the song is stuck in, feels it, resents it and can't enjoy it, and the song fails.
I don't care how good a song is. If it holds back the storyline, stalls the plot, your audience will reject it.
A song doesn't just come on. I've always had to tease it out, squeeze it out. 'No thesaurus can give you those words, no rhyming dictionary. They must happen out of you.
A song just doesn't come on. I've always had to tease it out, squeeze it out.
A rhyme doesn't make a song.
The songwriter mustn't fall in love with his own song. If it doesn't belong, he can't push it into a show. Let him save it; maybe it'll fit in another show.
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.
I do think song writing is a man's game. It requires push, energy, movement, mixing; it is a field that is and has been dominated by men.
We're confined to a framework of music, and I feel that the words can be poetic, but I wouldn't say poetry in the strictest sense.
My father assigned me to keep his scrapbooks. At first I was interested in reading only his rave notices, but I got interested in reading what the critics were saying about whether the play was good or not.
No thesaurus can give you those words, no rhyming dictionary. They must happen out of you.
We've accumulated a lot of things over the years and many things from our grandmother. Hopefully it'll be all right. I really don't want to cry, but I can't help it.
Love is the reason you were born.