Moonglow

#75 / May 27 Podcast

Here’s a curious bit of trivia about “Moonglow,” the great love song standard penned by Eddie DeLange and Will Hudson in the 1930s. During the Big Band era, this pair wrote a bunch of hits for the orchestra they co-led. Usually, Eddie wrote the melodies and Will composed the lyrics, but on “Moonglow” they switched places. Hudson wrote the song originally as an instrumental; and only later did DeLange add some words.

The Hudson-DeLange Orchestra was a formed in the 1930s primarily to showcase their compositions. In their limited time together — just two years — the orchestra played more than 200 live dates throughout the Eastern portion of the United States and recorded a good amount of music for the Brunswick label, often featuring vocalist Ruth Gaylor.  Some of them became hits and many others resurfaced later covered by other big names from the era. 

“Moonglow” was their greatest legacy to the Great American Songbook. It was first recorded by the great jazz violinist Joe Venuti and his orchestra. A year later, Benny Goodman and Ethel Waters had a hit with it. After that, everyone — from Art Tatum to Billie Holiday — took a turn with the tune.

Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1956 for use on his radio show, and it was subsequently included in the box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) issued by Mosaic Records. The Jazz Discography estimated by 2016, the song had been recored 572, including studio sessions, unreleased masters, live performances and radio transcriptions.

Our Take on the Tune

When The Flood first started doing this song more than 20 years ago, it was an instrumental for us with fiddler Joe Dobbs playing the lead. However, when Michelle started singing with us, she claimed “Moonglow” as she own, making her recording debut as “Michelle Walker” with it on our third album in 2003.

And now that Michelle has moved on to start an exciting new chapter in her life as Mrs. Rich Hoge, “Moonglow” for The Flood has returned to its roots.

Here, from a recent rehearsal, is a sweet instrumental rendition with Veezy Coffman, Danny Cox and Sam St. Clair finding new expression in this 90-year-old number. Click here to hear our “Moonglow” 2022.