Song Review 131 – Blue Moon – Holly & Kelly Music Review

SONG: Blue Moon

ARTIST: The Marcels

YEAR: 1961

Listen to it here:

THE SONG:

Blue Moon goes back a few decades from the recording we will be reviewing today. It was written in 1934 by the famous songwriting duo of Rodgers and Hart, and was a standard ballad for years. The 1961 doo-wop recording by The Marcels shot this song back onto the billboard charts in 1961, but that is only one of many many versions of this song.

Rodgers and Hart were on contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933 when they were commissioned to write the songs for Hollywood Party, a film that was supposed to star many of the studio’s top artists. They wrote a song to be sung in a scene where Jean Harlow would be portrayed as a young girl singing her prayers to become a famous movie star. That scene was cut from the movie, as was Jean Harlow. Hart wrote new lyrics for the melody for a 1934 film, Manhattan Melodrama, which was also cut. Rodgers still loved the melody, so he had Hart write a third set of lyrics, The Bad in Every Man, which was sung by Shirley Ross. The head of MGM liked the melody but wanted more romantic lyrics. Hart was pretty done with a fourth rewrite this time, but was eventually persuaded, and finally Blue Moon was born.

The Marcels recorded Blue Moon in 1961. They had a few songs left to record for their album, and needed one more. They wanted to do something with the same chord changes as Heart and Soul, so they chose Blue Moon, and inserted the famous intro, (bomp-baba-bomp etc) from a different tune they used to sing in their act.

THE ARTIST:

The Marcels were an American doo-wop group who were known for turning popular songs into rock and roll. They were formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh. The group was named after a popular hair style of the day – the marcel wave.

In August 1961, the group encountered racial problems while touring in the Deep South, because of the group being multi-racial. Two of the original members left. A year later, the other two left and were replaced. In the 1970s, there were a few reunion shows with the original members, but the group as a whole kept going until 1995.

FACTOID CORNER:

The Marcels learned Blue Moon on the recording day and recorded it in just two takes.

KELLY’S REVIEW:

Omg this song is SO dorky. But you can’t help but smile when the bass baritone dork busts in with his “bommamabomambombabombombabababombbadangadangdang”. In a music group I used to perform with that shall not be named we performed this song but it was definitely the more romantic doo-wop type of version. I actually really like this song and this version is so iconic. The melody is pretty basic, especially the verses and lyrical content is your basic 50s/early 60s love song fare – I’m sad and alone and now I’m with someone and happy! Thanks, nature! The singing is decent – the lead singer is super dramatic, but it works for this arrangement. Most of the backup singers do a serviceable job, the harmonies are pretty tight and they’re good at being just boring middle voices, but let’s call a spade a spade – the real star here is the bass singer. Is his tone good? Meh. Is he always in tune? Not a chance. Is he having the best time? ABSOLUTELY. It’s his part that really makes this version of this song memorable. Without the goofy doo wop stutter this song would probably just fade into the large vat of doo wop from the time. As far as the instruments are concerned I had to go back and specifically listen for them. There’s a bit of piano that fades into the background as soon as everyone is singing, and some drums there just to keep everything moving. Is there bass or guitar? Hell if I know. Anyway, this song is not to be taken too seriously and is super fun! I like it.

HOLLY’S REVIEW:

Ok, objectively this song is bad. It’s cheesy, the tuning is not great, the tone quality of the voices are ok, and the mix is bad. But you cannot listen to this without grinning. It’s so silly, and fun, and joyful. The bass singer is the mainstay of this song. He’s not great, he breathes in a lot of weird places, but he’s so fun and high energy. The weird high singing “aaaaahs” in the middle are kind of fun, and the harmonies are cool. The lyrics are what they are, the harmonies are basically Heart and Soul, and the structure is nothing innovative. But this shows just how far actual joy in music can take you. There’s a lot of drums, and with my noise-canceling headphones and concentration, I can barely pick out a bass. The guitar is just chunking away, doing his thing. The important thing about this song is that music can serve many needs and if you just need to smile and spread some joy, throw this song on it and it will achieve those goals. I really like it!

Average mark out of 10:

Holly: 8/10

Kelly: 8/10

Other notable versions of this song:

Slowing things down for miss Ella: