TONY BENNETT & K. D. LANG - MOONGLOW

MOONGLOW

TONY BENNETT & K. D. LANG

SONGWRITERS: EDDIE DELANGE, IRVING MILLS & WILL HUDSON

WHERE: MTV UNPLUGGED

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM:MOONGLOW

LABEL: COLUMBIA

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1994

MTV Unplugged is a live album by Tony Bennett that was released in 1994. Backed by his usual Ralph Sharon Trio, Bennett appeared on the TV show MTV Unplugged, which despite being a superfluous platform ("I've always been unplugged," Bennett noted), showcased the Great American Songbook. Rock stars Elvis Costello and k.d. lang made guest appearances.

The album reached platinum record status in the United States and won the 1995 Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year.

"Moonglow" appears in jazz fake books and lead sheets in the key of G, though it is also thought to originally be in the key of C. It is tonal and begins on the IV chord, also referred to as the subdominant major chord, and the sixth, or submediant note of the major scale, before resolving onto the tonic.

The melodic riff of the A section is composed of a repeated minor third interval followed by a major third interval and then a repeated note. Harmonic movement is largely in an ascending circle of fourths, or with descending chromatic substitutions, but there is also movement between thirds or between major and minor seventh chords. Minor seventh chords are often played in first inversion in this tune, and may therefore be thought of and notated as six chords of the relative major.

Rhythmically "Moonglow" is in 4 time. It is a foxtrot, typically played at a slow tempo, although some performers, notably Art Tatum, have played it faster. The rhythm is syncopated. Jazz players usually swing the eighth notes.

Writer George T. Simon, while working on a compilation of music for The Big Band Songbook, contacted composer Will Hudson regarding “Moonglow,” and Hudson explained how the tune came about. “It happened very simply. Back in the early ‘30s, I had a band at the Graystone Ballroom in Detroit, and I needed a theme song. So I wrote ‘Moonglow.’

It must have been moonglow

Way up in the blue

It must have been moonglow

That led me straight to you

I still hear you saying

'dear one, hold me fast'

And I start in praying

Oh Lord, please let this last

We seemed to float right through the air

Heavenly songs seem to come from everywhere

And now when there's moonglow

Way up in the blue

I always remember

That moonglow gave me you.