Moonlight serenade

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Moonlight Serenade ( German: Mondschein-Serenade ) is a song that was composed by Glenn Miller . The lyrics, written by Mitchell Parish , were added later. The song was released in 1939 under the Bluebird Records label and is about a person who sings in the moonlight about longing for his loved one.

History of origin

The song was recorded on April 4, 1939 at RCA Bluebird Studios and appeared on the back of the Sunrise Serenade record . It became a top ten hit in the US pop charts in 1939, reached number 3 on the Billboard charts and stayed there for 15 weeks. Moonlight Serenade was # 5 on the Billboard year-end count for Best Recordings in 1939. Glenn Miller had five songs in the Billboard Top 20 that year.

In the UK, Moonlight Serenade was released as the A-side of a '78 His Master's Voice record , with American Patrol as the B-side. There it reached number 12 on the charts in March 1954 and stayed there for a week. In January 1976 the song rose to number 13 in the UK charts in a medley with Little Brown Jug and In the Mood and stayed there for 8 weeks. The song, first published as an instrumental version in May 1939, later became Glenn Miller's signature tune. In November 1943 a V-Disc was also released, with the number 39A. The special thing about the instrumental version is the strikingly strong saxophone line-up, which is led by clarinets. This is often described as the classic Glenn Miller style. The song is a central example of the American big band sound from the middle of the twentieth century. Develops has the piece from a version from 1935, entitled Now I Lay Me Down to Weep with music of Glenn Miller and lyrics by Eddie Heyman, the version with lyrics by George Simons, entitled Gone with the Dawn , toward The Wind in the Trees with texts by Mitchell Parish.

In the biography of Glenn Miller, George Simon tells how singer Al Bowlly of the Ray Noble Orchestra sang Eddie Heyman's lyrics to the music of Now I Lay Me Down to Weep . The Ray Noble Orchestra never recorded this song. It became the Moonlight Serenade because Robbins Music bought the music. Since Miller was doing a cover of Sunrise Serenade , it was felt that Mondschein was a fitting equivalent of Sunrise / Sunrise. Now I Lay Me Down To Weep was composed in 1935 by Glenn Miller on texts by Eddie Heyman. When Moonlight Serenade , originally released only as an instrumental piece, became a box office hit, Mitchell Parish wrote new lyrics to match in 1939.

Miller learned the Schillinger Technique through Joseph Schillinger. Through Schillinger's influence, Miller found his own Miller sound , with which he composed the Moonlight Serenade . In 1939, Glenn Miller got a 15-minute radio show on CBS called Moonlight Serenade, which aired Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7.15pm and 10pm and was sponsored by the Chesterfield tobacco company until 1942 .

In 1991, Moonlight Serenade , published by RCA Bluebird, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra as Bluebird B-10214-B.

Cover versions

A known, sung version was published in 1965 on the album Moonlight Sinatra by Frank Sinatra , which also MoonLove , Moonlight Becomes You and Oh, You Crazy Moonlight contains recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Moonlight Serenade can also be heard on the 2008 album Nothing But the Best Frank Sinatras or on My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra from 1979, Warner Bros.

In 1939 Count Basie and his orchestra recorded a version of the piece to add the lyrics to Mitchell Parishs. This was also released as a 78 record under Vocalion 5036.

Moonlight Serenade was also covered by Barry Manilow , Carly Simon , Charlie Haden , Marc Reift, Santo and Johnny, Thelma Houston , Carol Burnett, Toots Thielemans , Deodato and reached number 18 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart; Count Basie Orchestra (sung by Helen Humes ), The Modernaires , Gene Krupa and His Orchestra , Freddy Martin and his Orchestra, Bert Kaempfert , Ray Conniff , Lloyd Gregory as guitar solo, Dick Hyman ; Maxwell Davis and his Orchestra; Tony Evans; Los Indios Tabajaras; David Rose, Waikikis, Oleg Lundström , Charlie Byrd , Taco, Alix Combelle , Richard Vaughn, Eddie Maynard, Simone Kopmajer ; Hamburger Philharmonie , Frank Capp , Karel Vlach, Transatlantic Swing Band, the Frankie Condon Orchestra, The Romantic Strings, Paul Mauriat, Tommy Leonetti, Johnny Desmond, the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler , John Williams, Keith Lockhart; Charlie Calello Orchestra; JP Torres and the Cuban All Stars; Tex Beneke and His Orchestra; the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra; Mario Pezzotta and His Orchestra; 101 strings; Pep Poblet, Ray Anthony , Cheryl Bentyne, Bobby Hackett ; The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic; Joe Loss, Ted Heath , Lawrence Welk , Henry Mancini , James Last , John Blair, Ray Eberle , Enoch Light , Buddy Emmons ; The Rivieras , a 1950s doo-wop group, the version of which reached number 47 on the 1957 pop charts; Tuxedo Junction; Yasuko Agawa , the German Kurt Edelhagen , Ella Fitzgerald , Oscar Rabin , Henry Jerome and his Orchestra, Kurt Elling , Syd Lawrence , The Ventures , Archie Bleyer, Bobby Vinton , who reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976, and through the Band Chicago as a 1995 CD single in Japan and on the big band album Night & Day Big Band .

literature

  • Bowlly: Al in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians . Vol. 1. Nicolas Slonimsky (Ed.). Schirmer Reference, New York 2001, 705 pp.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bowlly: Al in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians , vol. 1 Slonimsky, Nicolas (editor); Schirmer Reference (publisher); New York, NY (place); 2001; 705 pp