Ella Fitzgerald - Moonlight Serenade (Verve Records 1959)

"Moonlight Serenade" is an American swing ballad composed by Glenn Miller with subsequent lyrics by Mitchell Parish. It was an immediate phenomenon when released in May 1939 as an instrumental arrangement, though it had been adopted and performed as Miller's signature tune as early as 1938, even before it had been given the name "Moonlight Serenade." In 1991, Miller's recording of "Moonlight Serenade" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Miller studied the Schillinger technique with Joseph Schillinger, who is credited with helping Miller create the "Miller sound", and under whose tutelage he composed "Moonlight Serenade".

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, 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[4] for RCA Victor. They thought "Moonlight" would be a natural association for "Sunrise".

Jazz critic Gary Giddins wrote about the song's impact and legacy; "Miller exuded little warmth on or off the bandstand, but once the band struck up its theme, audiences were done for: throats clutched, eyes softened. Can any other record match 'Moonlight Serenade' for its ability to induce a Pavlovian slobber in so many for so long?" (The New Yorker, May 24, 2004).

The 1939 RCA Victor studio recording of "Moonlight Serenade" was released by the U.S. War Department as Army V-Disc 39A, VP 75, Theme Song, in November 1943. The recording was also released as the Navy V-Disc No. 160A and the Marine Corps V-Disc No. 160A. A V-Disc test pressing of a recording of the song from November 17, 1945 by the AAF Band was made but the disc was not issued. A new recording by Glenn Miller with the American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was broadcast to Germany in 1944 on the radio program The Wehrmacht Hour.

The song was recorded on April 4, 1939 on the RCA Bluebird label, and was a Top Ten hit on the U.S. pop charts in 1939, reaching number three on the Billboard charts, where it stayed for a total of fifteen weeks. It was the fifth most popular hit of 1939 in the Billboard year-end tally, where Miller had five records in the top 20.

In the UK, "Moonlight Serenade" was released as the A-side of a 78 for His Master's Voice (catalogue number B.D.5942) 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 January 1976 on a maxi single with "Little Brown Jug" and "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade" reached number thirteen on the UK charts, in a chart run of eight weeks. The recording was also issued as a V-Disc in November 1943.

Midnight Serenade features as background music on the Doctor Who episodes Revelation of the Daleks, The Empty Child, and The Doctor Dances.

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

[oldsalt]

I've liked this song since I was a teenager. I was born in '45 but always said I was born 20 years too late.

[michaellazzeri]

Lady Ella ! What a voice she had. No one even came close. 77 y/o

[ronwillson]

How wonderful, beautiful music beautiful voice

[LlyleHunter]

She was such a beautiful singer. She and Frank were born in the age of the microphone. Their voices reflected it. Both sang with nuance. They both sang as though you were standing right next to them and though the often hit crescendos most of the time they sang intimately instead of singing as though they were projecting to the back row. It was as though she had a personal relationship with you and was speaking with you.

[あさみっち-ij]

曲はもちろんですが、Elaさんの歌声でうっとり～🎶
幸せ🍀気分です☺❤
有難うございます〜!

[monikaruss]

Wunderschön...ein Genuss!Vielen Dank...🙏😊

[tigerlion]

Best voice i'd heard...best of the best

[andreahogan]

Ella was a beautiful woman 👠👠👠 in her era. And can sing. Need to make a movie about her life

[christinamarti]

Fabulous voice Frank Sinatra always said she was the best female vocalist period

[lyngruen]

Sweet sweet memories 💖
What a lady 👏 😍

[mirellatei]

Grazie, quando, cantare era cantare, per in casa, per le strade.... un' eredità, che non siamo stati capaci, di Trasmettere, peccato, i veri peccati, dell' umanità 😢

[davidmahapa]

Love this lady, how to download her music

[neilgrossbard]

My tone quality is a wonderful Baritone and I swing part of this song and take the ending up an octave but my coach points out my enunciation is not as good as either Sinatra or Ella.
Neil Grossbard (song uploaded to youtube and 16 others). Hope to improve.

[thomaslucia]

Creamy, creamy, creamy. Incomparable, unduplicatable.

[zenipinheiro]

REPAREM NA CARA DO WINTON MARSALYS EXTASIADO COM A VOZ DO GENIO ELLA