Dorothy Fields' Life and Lyrics: Collaborator and Lyricist Cy Coleman.

Coleman was a child piano prodigy who has written for Broadway, television and pop artists. Despite his popular success, he says that, in order to keep working, he still has to audition for directors and producers.

Cy Coleman started his career as a jazz pianist and club owner before moving on to writing pop songs that were recorded by artists such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. Coleman then started composing Broadway musicals, including "Sweet Charity." Coleman now produces and owns a music publishing company.

This Christmas week we rebroadcast our series on American popular song, and begin with the late lyricist Dorothy Fields. Born in 1905, she was the only woman in the pre-rock era to sustain major critical and popular acclaim as a songwriter. First, singer Becky Kilgore and pianist Dave Frishberg perform music by Dorothy Fields. Biographer Deborah Grace Winer talks about Fields life and music. Winer is author of On the Sunny Side of the Street: The Life and Lyrics of Dorothy Fields. Philip Furia talks specifically about the lyrics Dorothy Fields wrote.