Creativity Quote by Dorothy Fields

In two clipped verbs, Dorothy Fields demythologizes the most romantic lie in pop culture: that songs arrive like weather. "Tease it out, squeeze it out" turns inspiration into labor, and not the glamorous kind. The phrasing is physical, almost domestic, suggesting pressure, persistence, and a body-to-page struggle that doesn t stop just because you re talented. Fields doesn t pose as a vessel for muses; she sounds like a craftsperson with deadlines.

That matters because Fields worked inside the machine of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway, where songwriting was less solitary genius and more production schedule: rehearsals, rewrites, stars with opinions, producers with budgets. In that environment, the fantasy of effortless creation isn t just false, it s professionally useless. The intent here is partly corrective, aimed at younger writers who might mistake blockage for failure. She reframes it as the job.

There s also a quieter subtext about gender and credibility. As a woman in a male-dominated songwriting world, Fields had reason to distrust narratives that credit success to mysterious "gift" rather than repeatable skill. "Tease" implies finesse and intelligence; "squeeze" implies stamina and grit. Together they argue that the song isn t a lightning bolt, it s a wrestled thing, earned through technique, revision, and stubbornness.

The line lands because it s funny without being cute. It punctures the myth while honoring the work, giving creativity a backbone instead of a halo.