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Don’t Blame Me…

Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay

Greetings!

I hope this blog post finds you well.

My most recent song release — “Don’t Blame Me” — was co-written by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh.

I wrote a long blog post about Ms. Fields on October 1, 2017 which you can read (or re-read) by clicking here if you are curious.

The more I have learned about her, the more I admire her. 

And the more I perform her songs , the more I savor the ease, wit and humor in her lyrics.

Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay

Dorothy Fields was an extremely successful lyricist and librettist in a very male-dominated entertainment industry.

She was friends with — and sometimes collaborated with — all of the songwriters in the Golden Era of Popular Song including Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and the list (of male songwriters) goes on and on…

She had hits from the 1920s to the 1970s — and did not get discouraged (as many of her male colleagues did) when rock-n-roll began to displace her songs from the hit parade.

Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay

Instead she started working with a much younger composer, Cy Coleman, and had one of her biggest hits — the musical Sweet Charity — when she was 62 years old.

I, as a late-blooming songwriter, find her to be very inspirational.

I have chosen freesia for this post because I imagine she would have enjoyed their delicious fragrance ‚ and because they always seem very elegant to me.

According to her biographers, she was always very well-dressed (one grandparent was a tailor…) with separate closets for hats, shoes, active wear, evening wear, etc.

Here’s a streaming link for “Don’t Blame Me.”

Thank you to the glorious photographers at Pixabay.

Image by Alicja from Pixabay

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing piano while simultaneously recording him and me on “Don’t Blame Me.”

And thank YOU for reading another one of my blog posts.

Here is a bouquet of freesia for your efforts!

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

What a fragrance!

22 thoughts on “Don’t Blame Me…”

    • Thanks for giving it a listen, Bob! I have been able to re-use and incorporate a bunch of old head shots and photos in the graphic designs for my current song releases.

      Reply

    • Thank you, Audrey. Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh wrote some great songs together, including this one as well as “On The Sunny Side Of the Street” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby.” Here’s what Gardener’s word tells me about freesia: “Originating from South Africa, freesias are perennial plants that grow from bulb-like corms which can be grown in pots or planted in borders outside. These can be bought as ‘prepared’ corms which have been specially heat-treated to bloom 100-120 days after planting in their first year. This heat treatment mimics conditions in their native environment where freesias naturally bloom in winter.”

      Reply

  6. I so enjoyed rereading your Dorothy post. It must feel good to sing her songs. Like you, I love stories of the greats. And, thank you for posting photos of the beautiful flowers.

    Reply

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