Moonlight Serenade

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

"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. It was the no.5 top pop hit of 1939 on Billboard. 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. It was an immediate phenomenon when first released in May 1939 as an instrumental arrangement and was adopted as Miller's signature tune.
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.

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 first eight bars of the melody follow the form of the 12-bar blues, written in the C-minor key. 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.

"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, 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, Transatlantic Swing Band, the Frankie Condon Orchestra, The Romantic Strings, Paul Mauriat, 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, Cheryl Bentyne, jazz trumpeter Bobby Hackett in 1965, The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, Lawrence Welk, Henry Mancini, 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, 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.
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].

I stand/ at your gate/ and the song/ that I sing/ is of moonlight.
I stand/ and I wait/ for the touch/ of your hand/ in the June night.
The roses/ are sighing/ a Moonlight Serenade.
The stars/ are aglow/ and tonight/ how their light/ sets me dreaming.
My love/, do you know/ that your eyes/ are like stars brightly beaming?
I bring you/ and sing you/ a Moonlight Serenade.
Let us stray/ till break of day/
in love's/ valley of dreams.
Just you and I/, a summer sky,
a heavenly breeze/ kissing the trees.
So don't/ let me wait,/ come to me/ tenderly/ in the June night.
I stand/ at your gate/ and I sing/ you a song/ in the moonlight,
a love song/, my darling/, a Moonlight Serenade.