The Chorale’s February 25th Pops 2024 concert will once again feature a unique variety of “popular” music—one piece that even dates back to the 1500s. However, this December issue of Choral Notes features two more recent pieces from pops repertoire: Moonlight in Vermont written in 1944 and Here Comes the Sun written in 1969.
Moonlight Romance
Karl Suessdorf composed the music for Moonlight in Vermont and John Blackburn wrote the lyrics based on fond memories of his studies at Bennington College in the 1930s. Unusually, each verse (not counting the bridge) is a haiku.
Pennies in a stream
Falling leaves, a sycamore
Moonlight in Vermont
Icy finger waves
Ski trails on a mountain side
Snowlight in Vermont
Telegraph cables, they sing down the highway
And travel each bend in the road
People who meet in this romantic setting
Are so hypnotized by the lovely
Evening summer breeze
Warbling of a meadowlark
Moonlight in Vermont
Telegraph cables, they sing down the highway
And travel each bend in the road
People who meet in this romantic setting
So hypnotized by the lovely
Evening summer breeze
Warbling of a meadowlark
Moonlight in Vermont
You and I and
Moonlight in Vermont (moonlight in Vermont)
Recorded in 1944 by Margaret Whiting with Billy Butterfield's Orchestra, Moonlight in Vermont sold over one million copies and has been covered by a long list of well-known singers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, and Seth MacFarlane.
Here’s a 1945 version sung by Margaret Whiting.
and two instrumental versions…
Moonlight in Vermont, the 2017 movie, features the song shortly after 1:02 in the video:
Sunlit Joy
Here Comes the Sun was written by George Harrison in Eric Clapton's garden in early summer of 1969. According to Clapton, “it was a beautiful morning, and he (George using one of Clapton’s acoustic guitars) began to sing the opening lines and I just watched this thing come to life.” After attending a round of business meetings, Harrison recalled, “It was just a really nice sunny day, and I picked up the guitar, which was the first time I'd played the guitar for a couple of weeks because I'd been so busy. And the first thing that came out was that song.”
The Beatles had stopped touring, so though the song was recorded on their album, “Abbey Road” (1969), it was never performed by the group in concert. When The Beatles' music was finally made available for download on iTunes in 2010, Here Comes the Sun was the top-selling song the first week.
From “Abbey Road” (lyrics included):
Here is a version sung by George Harrison and Paul Simon (followed by a duet of Homeward Bound):
A Stringspace String Quartet performance of Here Comes the Sun (2017)
A final note :-)
December’s “Spreading Joy”
Pick Yourself Up (and start all over again) from “Swing Time” (1936)