The Marcels - Blue Moon

The Marcels was one of several doo-wop-influenced American vocal groups to achieve success in the early 60s, despite the passing of the genre’s golden age. Cornelius ’Nini’ Harp (lead singer), Ronald ’Bingo’ Mundy (tenor), Fred Johnson (bass), Gene Bricker (tenor) and Richard Knauss (baritone), all native to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA, achieved fame for their distinctive version of Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart’s classic ’Blue Moon’, previously a UK Top 10 hit for Elvis Presley in 1956, which topped both the US and UK charts in 1961. Johnson’s distinctive bass introduction to the song has remained one of the most enduring vocal phrases of the time. The quartet scored a further US Top 10 hit that year with ’Heartaches’, but its personnel was unstable, with Allen Johnson (d. 28 September 1995) replacing Knauss, and Walt Maddox replacing Bricker. Mundy walked out on the group during this same period, which did little to prepare them for the ever-changing trends prevalent during the early 60s, and eventually undermined the Marcels’ long-term aspirations. Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze. “Blue Moon“ is a classic popular song. It was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, and has become a standard ballad. The lyrics presumably refer to an English idiomatic expression: “once in a blue moon“ means very rarely. The narrator of the song is relating a stroke of luck so unlikely that it must have taken place under a blue moon. The title relies on a play on words, since Blue is also the color of melancholy, and indeed the narrator is sad and lonely until he or she finds love. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in May 1933. They were soon commissioned to write the songs for Hollywood Party, a film that was to star many of the studio’s top artists. The song was not even recorded and MGM Song #225 “Prayer (Oh Lord, make me a movie star)“ dated June 14, 1933, was registered for copyright as an unpublished work on July 10, 1933. Lorenz Hart wrote new lyrics for the tune to create a title song for the 1934 film Manhattan Melodrama: “Act One:/You gulp your coffee and run;/Into the subway you crowd./Don’t breathe, it isn’t allowed“. The song, which was also titled It’s Just That Kind Of Play, was cut from the film before release, and registered for copyright as an unpublished work on March 30, 1934. The studio then asked for a nightclub number for the film. Rodgers still liked the melody so Hart wrote a third lyric: The Bad In Every Man, (Oh, Lord .../I could be good to a lover,/But then I always discover/The bad in ev’ry man), which was sung by Shirley Ross made up in blackface. The song, which was also released as sheet music, was not a hit. After the film was released by MGM, Jack Robbins, the head of the studio’s publishing company, decided that the tune was suited to commercial release but needed more romantic lyrics and a punchier title. Hart was initially reluctant to write yet another lyric but he was persuaded. The result was “Blue moon/you saw me standing alone/without a dream in my heart/without a love of my own“. In actual fact, there is another verse that comes before the usual start of the song. Both Eric Clapton & Rod Stewart used it in their recent versions of the song. The last line of this extra verse is “Life was a bitter cup for the saddest of all men.“ Robbins licensed the song to Hollywood Hotel, a radio program that used it as the theme. On January 15, 1935, Connee Boswell recorded it for Brunswick Records. It subsequently was featured in at least seven more MGM films including the Marx Brothers’ At the Circus and Viva Las Vegas. Part of the song was in the musical Grease. ~SOURCE: Wikipedia PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads among multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948’s oldies classics. LINK: ’s Youtube Index