Fields's career as a professional songwriter took off in 1928 when Jimmy McHugh, who had seen some of her early work, invited her to provide some lyrics for him for "Blackbirds of 1928". The show, starring Adelaide Hall, became a Broadway hit. Fields and McHugh teamed up until 1935. Songs from this period include "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (1928), "Exactly Like You" (1930), and "On the Sunny Side of the Street" (1930). During the later 1920s, she and McHugh wrote specialty numbers for the various Cotton Club revues, many of which were recorded by Duke Ellington.