Moonlight Serenade

This article is about the Miller-Parish song. For the albums, see Moonlight Serenade (Carly Simon album) and Moonlight Serenade (Wink album).

"Moonlight Serenade"
Single by Glenn Miller
A-side	"Sunrise Serenade"
Released	1939
Recorded	April 4, 1939, RCA Bluebird
Genre	Jazz
Length	3:16
Label	Bluebird Records, Bluebird B-10214-B
Writer(s)	Glenn Miller
Producer	Glenn Miller

"Moonlight Serenade" is an American popular song with original music by Glenn Miller and subsequent lyrics by Mitchell Parish. When Miller recorded "Sunrise Serenade" in 1939, he placed this song on the back. The song, recorded on April 4, 1939 on RCA Bluebird, was a Top Ten hit on the U.S. pop charts in 1939, reaching number three on the Billboard charts, where it stayed for fifteen weeks. It was the no.5 top pop hit of 1939 on Billboard in the year end Billboard tally of the top records of 1939. Glenn Miller had 5 records in the top 20 songs of 1939 on Billboard's list. In the UK, "Moonlight Serenade" was released as the A side of a 78 on His Master's Voice with "American Patrol" as the B side. The recording reached number twelve in the UK in March, 1954, staying on the chart for one week. In a medley with "Little Brown Jug" and "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade" reached number thirteen on the UK charts in January, 1976, where it stayed for eight weeks. It was an immediate phenomenon when first released in May 1939 as an instrumental arrangement and was adopted as Miller's signature tune. The recording was also issued as a V-Disc, No. 39A, in November, 1943.

In 1991, the recording of "Moonlight Serenade", released on RCA Bluebird in 1939 as Bluebird B-10214-B by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Background

1939 sheet music cover, Robbins Music, New York.

The most striking part of the piece was its use of clarinet-led saxophone section, which is widely considered the classic Glenn Miller style. The song is a premier example of the American big-band sound from the mid-twentieth century. Miller studied the Schillinger technique with Joseph Schillinger,^[1] who is credited with helping Miller create the "Miller sound", and under whose tutelage he himself composed Moonlight Serenade, which became his signature theme.^[2]

In 1939, Glenn Miller had a 15 minute radio series on CBS called "Moonlight Serenade" that ran three times a week, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:15 and 10:00 PM until 1942 sponsored by Chesterfield.

A famous vocal version can be found on Frank Sinatra's Moonlight Sinatra released in 1965, which also contains "Moon Love", "Moonlight Becomes You", and "Oh, You Crazy Moon", which were recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. "Moonlight Serenade" can also be found on Nothing But the Best, a 2008 Frank Sinatra greatest hits compilation by Reprise and on My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra from 1997 by Warner Bros. and the Frank Sinatra compilation Greatest Love Songs from 2002. In 1939, Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded one of the earliest versions to feature the lyrics added by Mitchell Parish which was released as a 78 single, Vocalion 5036.

"Moonlight Serenade" has been covered by Barry Manilow, Carly Simon, Charlie Haden, Marc Reift, Santo and Johnny, Thelma Houston, Carol Burnett, Toots Thielemans, Deodato, who reached no.18 on the Billboard Easy Listening Chart, Count Basie and his Orchestra with vocals by Helen Humes, The Modernaires, Gene Krupa and his Orchestra, Freddy Martin and his Orchestra, Bert Kaempfert, Ray Conniff, Lloyd Gregory on solo guitar, Dick Hyman, Maxwell Davis and his Orchestra, Tony Evans, Los Indios Tabajaras, David Rose, Waikikis, Oleg Lundstrom, Charlie Byrd, Taco, Alix Combelle, Richard Vaughn, Eddie Maynard, Simone Kopmajer, Hamburg Philharmonia, Frankie 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, and Keith Lockhart, Charlie Calello Orchestra, J.P. 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, jazz trumpeter Bobby Hackett in 1965, 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 on steel guitar, The Rivieras, a 1950s Doo Wop group whose recording reached no.47 on the pop charts in 1959, Tuxedo Junction, Yasuko Agawa, German bandleader Kurt Edelhagen, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Rabin, Henry Jerome and his Orchestra as a 45 single, Decca 25545, Kurt Elling, Syd Lawrence, The Ventures, Archie Bleyer, Bobby Vinton, who reached no.97 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976, and the rock band Chicago as a 1995 3 inch CD single in Japan and on the big band album Night & Day Big Band.^[3]

The song evolved from a 1935 version entitled "Now I Lay Me Down to Weep" with music by Glenn Miller and lyrics by Eddie Heyman to a version called "Gone with the Dawn" with lyrics by George Simon [Simon, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, 71-72], and "The Wind in the Trees" with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. In his biography of Glenn Miller, George T. Simon recounted how vocalist Al Bowlly of the Ray Noble Orchestra sang him the Eddie Heyman lyrics to the Glenn Miller music of "Now I Lay Me Down to Weep" in 1935. The Noble Orchestra never recorded the song. Finally it ended up as "Moonlight Serenade" because Robbins Music bought the music and learned that Miller was recording a cover of "Sunrise Serenade", a Frankie Carle associated song [1], for RCA Victor. They thought "Moonlight" would be a natural association for "Sunrise". [Simon, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, 162-163].

"Now I Lay Me Down to Weep" was composed in 1935 with lyrics by Eddie Heyman and music by Glenn Miller. After "Moonlight Serenade", originally released solely as an instrumental, became a smash hit in 1939, Mitchell Parish wrote new lyrics for the music under that title.

Appearances in popular media

Television

• In Cold Case episode "World's End", "Moonlight Serenade" is heard playing over the radio in the year 1938.
• In an All in the Family episode, "Archie and Edith Alone" (1972), Edith takes out a small 78 RPM turntable and plays "Moonlight Serenade" to Archie where he then dances with her to it. Also Glenn Miller is mentioned in the opening credit sequence (Boy, the way Glenn Miller played...).
• In The Simpsons episode "Lady Bouvier's Lover", "Moonlight Serenade" turns out to be Marge's mother's favorite tune, which is played at the dance and later by Grandpa Simpson at the wedding.
• In the King of the Hill episode "Luanne Virgin 2.0", "Moonlight Serenade" plays at the dance.
• The song has featured twice in the ABC series Lost. In the season 2 episode "The Long Con", Sayid and Hurley hear the song being played on a music station. It is heard again in the season 3 episodes "A Tale of Two Cities", this time in a flashback, as Jack sits in his car.
• It is featured in the episode "Next Stop, Nowhere" from the series Quincy, M.E. starring Jack Klugman in 1982.
• It has also been featured in several episodes of the sitcom The Golden Girls.
• "Moonlight Serenade" was part of a Glenn Miller tribute on The Carol Burnett Show.
• It was also featured in three Doctor Who episodes, "Revelation of the Daleks" "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances".
• In an episode of Doctors, Michelle and Nick walk next to the exit and dance in the moonlight.
• In a Growing Pains episode, Carol dances with a boy she likes to this song.
• In the episode of The Wonder Years called "Little Debbie".
• In the television miniseries Stephen King's Rose Red.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: song plays as Picard enters in a 1940s tavern generated by the Holodeck.
• In the Domino Day 2007 during the project "Everlasting Love".
• In St. Elsewhere Time Heals part 2 when there is a flashback to Dr. Auschlander in 1945 and he goes on his first date with his future wife.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Buffy and her mother watch Stowaway, an old movie with Shirley Temple. It's Buffy's 17th birthday, but she lets the candle burn while Moonlight Serenade plays in the background.
• In a second season episode of the police procedural drama Blue Bloods (TV series).

Film

• In the 1939 Tyrone Power film Day-Time Wife
• In the 1940 Joel McCrea film He Married His Wife
• In the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade that starred Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, John Payne, Sonja Henie, Milton Berle, the Nicholas Brothers, and Dorothy Dandridge.
• In the 1942 film Orchestra Wives that featured Glenn Miller, George Montgomery, Ann Rutherford, Jackie Gleason (uncredited), Harry Morgan (uncredited), and Cesar Romero.
• In the 1943 Universal Pictures musical Crazy House starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson.
• In the 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story starring James Stewart, June Allyson, and Harry Morgan.
• In the 1968 film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell starring Gina Lollobrigida, Telly Savalas, and Lee Grant.
• In the 1971 film Carnal Knowledge, the song was used in the opening scene of the film.
• In the 1973 eponymous film about gangster Lucky Luciano, directed by Francesco Rosi.
• In the 1974 French film Toute une vie released as And Now My Love in the U.S.
• In the 1976 film starring Orson Welles and Faye Dunaway, The Voyage of the Damned.
• In the 1979 film The Marriage of Maria Braun directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
• In the 1980 Woody Allen film Stardust Memories.
• In the 1980 film Caboblanco starring Charles Bronson and Jason Robards.
• In the 1986 film Tough Guys starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.
• In the 1988 Tom Hanks comedy film Big.
• In the 1990 film Chicago Joe and the Showgirl starring Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Lloyd.
• In the 1992 film Shining Through starring Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith and Liam Neeson.
• In the 1993 Danny DeVito film Jack the Bear.
• In the 1997 film Contact starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey.
• In the 1997 film The Locusts starring Kate Capshaw and Vince Vaughn.
• In the 1997 Japanese film Setouchi Moonlight Serenade directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
• In the 1999 Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut.
• In the 2004 Martin Scorsese biographical drama film The Aviator.
• In the 2004 romance film The Notebook.
• In the 2004 Japanese comedy film Swing Girls.
• In the 2005 Rob Reiner film Rumor Has It… starring Jennifer Aniston.
• In the 2008 Korean western film The Good, the Bad, the Weird.

References

1. ^ The Schillinger School of Music
2. ^ Who Is Joseph Schillinger?
3. ^ A good comprehensive reference to who has recorded "Moonlight Serenade" is ASCAP's listing at http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300