I'm In The Mood For Love
(Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields)
“I'm In The Mood For Love” is one of the great classics of pre-war popular music. This song was first performed by Frances Langford 1935 in the movie "Every Night At Eight" (NY Times Review 1935), but the definitive version surely remains Louis Armstrong's marvelous interpretation, recorded in October 1935 for Decca (here at redhotjazz.com). It has been covered by countless artists, not at least by Fats Domino for Imperial in 1957 (here from YouTube). Bob Dylan performed it live once in 1988 and three times in 1989:
03.08.1988, Los Angeles
08.08.1989, Toledo
09.08.1989, St. Louis
10.08.1989, Cincinnati
But I'm sure “I'm In The Mood For Love” was also (besides maybe the Gershwin's “Nice Work If You Can Get It”) the inspiration and starting-point for Dylan's own “I'll Be Your Baby Tonight”.
I'm In The Mood For Love
Simply because you're near me.
Funny, but when you're near me
I'm In The Mood For Love.
Heaven is in your eyes
Bright as the stars we're under
Oh! Is it any wonder
I'm In The Mood For Love?
Why stop to think of whether
This little dream might fade?
We've put our hearts together
Now we are one, I'm not afraid!
If there's a cloud above
If it should rain we'll let it
But for tonight, forget it!
I'm In The Mood For Love.
Dorothy Fields (1905 - 1974) was among the outstanding lyricists of her era, one of the few women successful in that particular field. "What gives Field's lyrics their wallop is their directness" (William Zinsser) and “sensuous nonchalance” (Philip Furia).
“Few lyricists have had the talent Dorothy Fields had for writing words that sit so well on the music. Just reading her lyrics one can see the music rise and fall. One of her earliest lyrics is a good example: I can't give you anything but love … baby! …Her words not only fit the music, they confidently ride on top of it. Perhaps Lehman Engel put it best when he said Fields' lyrics dance.
Dorothy Fields perfected the character lyric to a level beyond that of many better-known songwriters. Whether the song was an elegant ballad for a romantic Hollywood film or a streetwise character song for a musical play, Fields wrote with a precision found only in the best lyricists. The fact that she was able to sustain this precision for over forty years makes her unique in a way rarely seen on Broadway” (Thomas S. Hischak)
She was the daughter of comedian and producer Lew Fields, started out writing for revues at the Cotton Club – f. ex. for singer Adelaide Hall – and then at Broadway (“Blackbirds Of 1928”, “Hello Daddy”, “International Revue”) with composer Jimmy McHugh. In the 30s she was very busy in Hollywood collaborating not at least with Jerome Kern for example for the Astaire/Rogers movie musical “Swing Time”. From the late 30s onward she turned to writing books for Broadway with her brother Herbert, especially for Cole Porter musicals like “Something For The Boys” (1943) and of course for Irving Berlin's “Annie Get Your Gun” (1946).
Ms. Fields is responsible for the words to standards like "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", "A Fine Romance" (with the timeless couplet: "We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes/But you're as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes"), "On The Sunny Side Of The Street", "The Way You Look Tonight" and many more. For more information about her check out Deborah Grace Winer's fine illustrated biography "On The Sunny Side Of The Street. The Life And Lyrics Of Dorothy Fields" (Schirmer Books, 1997).
Literature:
© LostChords
MoreRootsOfBob.com
11.02.2007