“Exactly Like You” | Stories of Standards

Tune in to First Take with Lando and Chavis – weekdays from 6-9 am MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long!

“Exactly Like You”, by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh, was introduced in Lew Leslie’s “International Review” on February 25, 1930, along with another of their compositions “On the Sunny Side of the Street”. The timing was not auspicious for musicals and “Exactly Like You” faded for a while, only to be revived in 1936 by Benny Goodman’s trio, which featured vibraphonist/drummer Lionel Hampton on vocals. After that “Exactly Like You” stayed on the list of standards and has been recorded by a succession of great vocalists and bands, from Louis Armstrong, Ruth Etting, Harry James and Count Basie to Bing Crosby, Mel Tormé, Cab Calloway and Nat King Cole to Duane Eddy, Carmen McRae, Aretha Franklin and Ramsey Lewis.

Dorothy Fields (1905 – 1974) was the first woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was honored with a US postage stamp. Her seven-year partnership with Jimmy McHugh produced a series of great songs, from “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” in 1928 and  “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “Exactly Like You” (1930), “Don’t Blame Me” (1933), to “I’m in the Mood for Love” (1935). She collaborated with Jerome Kern on “Swing Time” (1936), a Fred Astaire / Ginger Rogers musical that included “A Fine Romance”. She then returned to Broadway, where she produced “Annie Get Your Gun” with her brother Herbert, followed by three Cole Porter musicals. She later wrote two shows with Cy Coleman, one of which (“Sweet Charity”, 1966) included the song “Big Spender” and was made into a movie starring Shirley MacLaine.

 

Jimmy McHugh (1896 – 1969) started off in Irving Berlin’s publishing company and moved to New York in 1921, where he began writing songs for Cotton Club reviews. In 1927 he met and began a great partnership Dorothy Fields. “Blackbirds of 1928” was the first, with “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”. “Don’t Blame Me” came out in 1932 and “I’m In the Moon for Love” (1935) was their first song to rise to number one on the Hit Parade. He was a director of ASCAP from 1960 until his death and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

 

http://www.jazzbiographies.com/Biography.aspx?ID=34 Dorothy Fields, lyricist, writer (1905 – 1974)

http://www.jazzbiographies.com/Biography.aspx?ID=78 Jimmy McHugh (1896 – 1969)