Moonlight Bay: Difference between revisions

"Moonlight Bay"
"Moonlight Bay"
	Cover, sheet music, 1912
Song

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Revision as of 02:35, 11 April 2016

"Moonlight Bay" is a popular song. It is commonly referred to as "On Moonlight Bay".

The lyrics were written by Edward Madden, the music by Percy Wenrich, and was published in 1912. It was often sung in a Barbershop Quartet style, such as by Billy Murray and the American Quartet. There has been some controversy about whether the original lyrics are, "We could hear the voices ringing." or "We could hear the darkies singing." The latter appears in several movies (e.g., "Ship Ahoy" starring Red Skelton and others); however the original sheet music and the 1912 Edison wax cylinder recording use "voices."

The song was one of a number of early-20th-century songs which were used as titles of musical films made by Doris Day in the late 1940s and early 1950s. See On Moonlight Bay.

Verses

Voices hum, crooning over Moonlight Bay

Banjos strum, tuning while the moonbeams play

All alone, unknown they find me

Memories like these remind me

Of the girl I left behind me

Down on Moonlight Bay

Candle lights gleaming on the silent shore

Lonely nights, dreaming till we meet once more

Far apart, her heart, is yearning

With a sigh for my returning

With the light of love still burning

As in of days of yore

Chorus

We were sailing along

On Moonlight Bay.

We could hear the voices ringing;

They seemed to say,

"You have stolen her heart"

"Now don't go 'way!"

As we sang Love's Old Sweet Song

On Moonlight Bay

Notable covers

A 1951 duet performance by Bing Crosby and Gary Crosby reached hit status.

External links

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 :On Moonlight Bay
-==Pop culture==
+==Notable covers==
+* A 1951 duet performance by [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Gary Crosby (actor)|Gary Crosby]] reached hit status.
-{{prose|date=April 2013}}
-===Cartoons===
+==See also==
+*''[[On Moonlight Bay (film)|On Moonlight Bay]]'' (film)
-*The song is sung by two cats in the 1933 Van Beuren cartoon ''[[Silvery Moon]]''.
-*It has appeared in many [[Looney Tunes]]/[[Merrie Melodies]] shorts, often as a drinking song. Examples:
-*It is sung by a quintet of drunk fish in ''[[Porky's Duck Hunt]]'' in a rowboat, after they swim through a sunken whiskey barrel shot by [[Porky Pig]] (1937). It is again sung by [[Porky Pig|Porky]] himself in the ironically titled 1942 cartoon, ''[[My Favorite Duck]]'', in which Porky is tormented by [[Daffy Duck]] while on a camping trip.  It well fits Porky's speech impediment — which is especially noticeable with M's and B's. Daffy, meanwhile, keeps singing "[[Blues in the Night|Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol' Me)]]". At one point, Porky unconsciously starts to sing Daffy's number, then stops, looks into the camera with a "Harumph!" and returns to his stuttering version of "Moonlight Bay.". The song was also used in another Porky cartoon, entitled "[[Trap Happy Porky]]" (1945), and it was sung by a quintet of drunk cats (one of them was playing the piano).
-*It is also sung by [[Sylvester the Cat]] in the 1948 cartoon ''[[Back Alley Oproar]]''.
-*[[Michigan J. Frog]] sings the chorus in ''[[Another Froggy Evening]]''.
-*It was featured twice on [[Nickelodeon]]'s ''[[Hey Arnold!]]''. The first time was in the episode "Gerald's Tonsils" and the second time was in "Big Sis".
-===Film===
-* The song was featured in the films ''[[On Moonlight Bay (film)|On Moonlight Bay]]'' (1951) and  ''[[By the Light of the Silvery Moon (film)|By the Light of the Silvery Moon]]'' (1953), performed by [[Leon Ames (actor)|Leon Ames]], Gordon MacRae, Doris Day.
-* The tune prominently featured in [[Louis Malle]]'s ''[[Pretty Baby (film)|Pretty Baby]]'' (1978), which won an [[Academy Award for Original Music Score]] in the "Adaptation Score" category.
-*On Season 2, Episode 3 of [[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]], [[Louie DePalma]] ([[Danny DeVito]]) sings Moonlight Bay while under the influence of whatever "Reverend" [[Jim Ignatowski]] ([[Christopher Lloyd]]) has slipped into his coffee.  It is part of an effort by the cabbies to get Louie to hire Jim at the cab company, something he has refused to do.  Louie's final words, just before drifting off, are, "Everyone works on Moonlight Bay".
-*It is revealed in episode [[Brian: Portrait of a Dog|7]] of ''[[Family Guy]]'' that [[Brian Griffin]] can simultaneously sing all four parts of  four-part harmony. In a [[Flashback (narrative)|flashback]] scene, Brian sings “Moonlight Bay.”
-*It is sung several times in Nickelodeon's ''[[Hey Arnold]]''.
-*A [[Parody|spoof]] of this song was made by [[The Beatles]] with [[Morecambe and Wise]]. It is found on [[Anthology 1]].
-* [[Peter O'Toole]] sings it in ''[[The Rainbow Thief]]'' (1990)
-* A 1951 hit for father and son [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Gary Crosby (actor)|Gary Crosby]]
-* [[Harry James]] released a version on his 1954 album ''Dancing In Person With Harry James At The Hollywood Palladium'' ([[Columbia Records|Columbia]] CL-562)
 ==External links==