Questions

• In the Winer songlist the song Serenade for a Wealthy Widow from 1934 is shown as being written by Dorothy Fields, Reginald Forsythe and Jimmy McHugh. Who really wrote this?

• In the Winer songlist the song Goodbye Blues from the 1934 film Strictly Dynamite is shown as being written by Dorothy Fields, Arnold Johnson and Jimmy McHugh. Who really wrote this?

• In the Winer songlist, George Oppenheimer is shown as contributing to the lyrics for I Feel A Song Comin� On . Who was he and was he really involved?

Question: The published lyric of I'll Pay The Check (as quoted in Lehman Engel's book, and Deborah Grace Winer's book) is completely different from the one that can be heard on Ethel Merman's recording. Can anyone explain this?
Answer: My mistake - I meant A Lady Needs a Change rather than I'll Pay The Check . The Lehman Engel book Their Words Are Music has an almost completely different version, which is less funny. It is also slightly sanitised compared to the the lyric Merman sings, and this may be the reason for two versions. It has been suggested that the published verses were used as encore verses, although one does use two triplets (e.g. "I buy a dress on Monday etc." and "Let's say you like potatoes etc.") that Merman also sings.

Question: In the Winer songlist I'll be Hard to Handle has lyrics by Dorothy and Bernard Dougall. Who really wrote it?
Answer: The original lyric was written by Bernard Dougall, who was Otto Harbach's nephew. When the film was made in '34, Dorothy Fields revised the lyric, perhaps principally to delete the lyric "I'm gonna raise hell." (DF's lyric changed"raise hell" to "raise Cain.")

Question: In the Winer songlist You're Devastating has lyrics by Dorothy and Otto Harbach. Who really wrote it?
Answer: Otto Harbach wrote the lyric for the original stage version and the song was only used as background music for the movie -- no lyric at all, so no revision. Could this be a mistake in Bloom?.

Question: Is the song I'm Scared which Sarah Vaughan performs on several recordings including "Soft and Sassy", the same I'm Scared which was written by Dorothy Fields?
Answer: No.

Question: Is the song Rip Van Winkle on Meredith D'Ambrosio's 1978 album "Lost in His Arms" the Dorothy Fields / Sigmund Romberg song from Up in Central Park?
Answer: No.

Question: In 1945, Deborah Grace Winer's songlist features a pop song entitled Let's Have an Old-fashioned Christmas (and Pray for a Happy New Year) . The composer is given as being Harold Adamson, who, as far as I'm aware, wrote only lyrics. What is the true authorship of this song?
Answer: According to the ASCAP on-line database, this song was written by Harold Adamson, and Jimmy McHugh, and is therefore not a Dorothy Fields song at all.

Question: There are alternative lyrics to the song Rhythm of Life. I've heard this version sung by a church choir. Among numerous changes, the phrase "rhythm in your bedroom" is replaced by "rhythm on the inside", and the overall effect is to eliminate references to a cynical religious cult, and take the parody out of the mock religious fervour. The lyric may be viewed at Rhythm of Life. Was this alternative written by Dorothy Fields, and if so, under what circumstances?
Answer: David Lahm, Dorothy Fields' son, was not aware of this version, and it seems clear that it is an unauthorised version written for church groups.