It Yields the Life We Want

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are all the rage on the silver screen. Dorothy Fields paired her lyrics with Jerome Kern’s melody for the movie Swing Time in 1936. I remember this movie well as I watched it on reruns many years in a row as I was babysitting for New Year’s Eve. WGN would play a Fred & Ginger movie marathon. I was only thirteen and kept awake by dancing and singing along in the living room while the kids I was watching were already in bed.

These lyrics remind us that “nothing is impossible I have found” when we stick to it and keep our heads down. This tune has been covered by such greats as Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall. The words are commonly spoken when times are troubling, most people never realizing who wrote it or how long that phrasing has truly passed the test of time.

I spoke to a woman just today who uttered the last line, and it made me smile. She was too young to probably even know who Fred and Ginger were, let alone Dorothy Fields. Isn’t it great to know that solid, strong phrases and catchy tunes stick around, good times or bad times the best just gets better!

I think we all need to be reminded that nothing is impossible if we are willing to do the work. The level of stick-to-it-ness that problems, turmoil and strife bring to our table which activate our flight or fight instincts. Sure it would be nice to run away and yet deep down we know that dusting ourselves off and starting all over again is the better path. It yields the life we want not the one we are willing to settle for.