Biography
Lyricist Al Dubin forged an enduring creative alliance with composer Harry Warren that yielded numerous 1930s standards, among them “We’re in the Money,” “I Only Have Eyes for You,” and “Lullaby of Broadway.” Born Alexander Dubin on June 10, 1891, in Zurich, Switzerland, he grew up mainly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After a short stint in medical school that ended with his expulsion in 1911, he relocated to New York intent on establishing himself as a songwriter. World War I interrupted those ambitions, yet upon returning from service he devised a method of crafting lyrics for well-known instrumental pieces, achieving success with adaptations of Dvorak’s “Humoresque” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Song of India.” By the close of the 1920s he had moved to Hollywood, where he partnered with composer Joe Burke on a string of successes that included “Tip-Toe Through the Tulips,” “Painting the Clouds With Sunshine,” “Love Will Find a Way,” and “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes.” In the decade that followed, Dubin joined Harry Warren to supply songs for screen musicals such as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, and several entries in the Gold Diggers series; their five-year collaboration produced additional hits like “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me,” “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Young and Healthy,” “With Plenty of Money and You,” and “Love Is Where You Find It.” Outside that partnership he also worked with Victor Herbert on “Indian Summer,” Will Grosz on “Along the Santa Fe Trail,” and Duke Ellington on “I Never Felt This Way Before.” Prolonged excesses gradually undermined his health, and Dubin succumbed on February 11, 1945.