During a challenging childhood and a tumultuous marriage, US singer-songwriter Dory Previn harnessed the power of writing to navigate her experiences with schizophrenia. A new documentary film delves into the extraordinary music she created during this pivotal time in her life.
Julia Greenberg recalls her first encounter with Previn’s music while riding in a friend’s car through New England. A playful ballad titled “Holy Man on Malibu Bus Number Three” played on the stereo, leaving Greenberg captivated. “She sounded so wholly unique,” Greenberg reflects, speaking via video call from her New York home 15 years later. Upon discovering that the singer was Dory Previn—a former Hollywood lyricist who transitioned into a troubadour, making a name for herself in the 1970s with her witty and deeply personal lyrics—Greenberg became a passionate advocate for Previn’s legacy. “She should be known, you know?” Greenberg emphasizes, a sentiment she has poured into her documentary, “Dory Previn: On My Way to Where.” Co-director Dianna Dilworth admits she shared a similar lack of familiarity with Previn, noting, “We hear that from everyone.”
The film aims to shine a light on Previn’s distinctive songwriting in her mid-40s, exploring her experiences of abuse, mental breakdowns, and marital betrayal. “Maybe I am bizarre to some people, but I’m not all that bizarre,” Previn states at the film’s onset. Born in New Jersey in 1925, Previn faced a troubled upbringing marked by abuse from her father—a World War I veteran whose paranoia culminated in a terrifying standoff that confined the family at gunpoint.
Despite—or perhaps because of—this adversity, Previn defied expectations early on. At just 17, she left for Hollywood, where she began her career as a chorus girl before securing a lyricist role at MGM in the late 1950s. It was there that she met André Previn, her songwriting partner and future husband. While he garnered fame as an acclaimed pianist and conductor with 10 Oscars, this film seeks to establish Dory as a significant artist in her own right.
Encouraged by doctors to write as a means of cognitive therapy, Previn began to process her life through her art. “She worked out her life through words,” says Greenberg. This poignant aspect is showcased in the film, which features diary excerpts and lyrics that resonate deeply. Dilworth notes that the narrative is more complex than simply being “she wrote herself back to health,” emphasizing that Previn’s writing helped her embrace the multitude of voices she experienced in her mind. As Previn herself poignantly articulated: “When I was most unlucid and unclear there was always another eye, another part of me, that had absolute clarity.”
The relationship Previn nurtured with the voices in her head deeply influenced her music, as she began to collaborate with them rather than resist. Her 1970 debut album, “On My Way to Where,” followed by “Mythical Kings and Iguanas,” captures this journey. Whether addressing themes of parental abuse, complex sexual experiences, or her encounters with schizophrenia, Previn’s work showcases her wit and artistry while grounding her experiences in the framework of the great American songbook.
“There is no artist that crossed over from Hollywood lyricist to singer-songwriter like Previn,” Greenberg points out, raising the question of why she didn’t achieve broader recognition. “It’s complicated,” Greenberg explains. Previn’s intense fear of travel and touring, combined with her unabashed sexuality and candid references to mental illness, made it difficult for some audiences—particularly men—to fully embrace her work. Greenberg recalls a critical review of Previn’s fourth album in 1972, where a critic claimed she was “flailing a cliché with barbed wire,” while similar expressions from male counterparts were celebrated as genius.
Although Previn transitioned to Emmy-winning songwriting in the 1980s and engaged in various writing and lecturing endeavors, she continued to confront societal biases throughout her life. She collaborated with her ex-husband shortly before her passing at 86 in 2012. As society becomes more attuned to the issues of sexism and mental health, Previn’s story stands ready for a reevaluation. Through her humor and honesty in facing her demons, she illuminated alternative paths to living, famously pondering, “Who knows what the real reality is?”
The UK cinema tour of “On My Way to Where” begins on October 26 at the Barbican in London.
