Carolina Moon (song)

Last updated
"Carolina Moon"
Carolina Moon sheet music (cover).jpg
Sheet music cover, 1928
Song by Gene Austin
B-side "I Wish I Had Died In My Cradle (Before I Grew Up To Love You)"
ReleasedFebruary 1929
RecordedDecember 10, 1928 [1]
Studio Victor Studios, New York City
Genre Jazz, Pop Vocal
Label Victor 21833
Composer(s) Benny Davis
Lyricist(s) Joe Burke
Gene Austin singles chronology
"Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time"
(1928)
"Carolina Moon"
(1929)
"A Garden in the Rain"
(1929)

"Carolina Moon" is a popular song, written by Joe Burke and Benny Davis. [2] Written in 1924, the song was first recorded in 1928 by American crooner Gene Austin whose version charted for 14 weeks, seven of them at #1. [3] The song was copyrighted in 1928, so it entered the public domain on January 1, 2024. [lower-alpha 1]

A version of "Carolina Moon" was recorded by Connie Francis in June 1958: as with her breakthrough hit "Who's Sorry Now?", "Carolina Moon" was recommended to Francis by her father. The B-side of Francis's international hit "Stupid Cupid" "Carolina Moon" became a double A-side hit with "Stupid Cupid" which began a six-week tenure at #1 on the UK Singles Chart dated September 27, 1958. [4] Benny Davis would later write several songs for Connie Francis including the 1962 #1 hit "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" (Joe Burke had died in 1950).

Maureen McGovern recorded "Carolina Moon" for her 1979 self-titled album release with the track serving as the B-side of her Top 20 single "Different Worlds" – this version erroneously credits the song as being of "Traditional" composition.

The song has also been recorded by the Chordettes, Perry Como, Annette Hanshaw, Dean Martin, Jim Reeves, Ben Selvin, Kate Smith, Slim Whitman, and Thelonious Monk in a jazz instrumental version.

The song

The song contains the memorable chorus:-

Oh, Carolina Moon keep shining.


shining on the one who waits for me.

Carolina Moon, I'm pining,

pining for the place I long to be.

It describes the feelings of parted lovers , connected by the knowledge that the same moon shines on them both.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connie Francis</span> American pop singer and actress (born 1937)

Connie Francis is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She is estimated to have sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

"Buttons and Bows" is a popular song with music written by Jay Livingston and lyrics by Ray Evans. The song was published on February 25, 1948 by Famous Music Corp., New York. The song was written for and appeared in the Bob Hope and Jane Russell film The Paleface and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was originally written with an Indian theme, but was changed when the director said that would not work in the movie. It was a vocal selection on many radio programs in late 1948. It was reprised in the sequel, Son of Paleface, by Roy Rogers, Jane Russell and Bob Hope. In 2004 it finished #87 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of the top tunes in American cinema.

"I Really Don't Want to Know" is a popular song written by Don Robertson (music) Howard Barnes (lyrics). The song was published in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Who's Sorry Now? (song)</span> 1923 song by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Ted Snyder

"Who's Sorry Now?" is a popular song with music written by Ted Snyder and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. It was published in 1923, when Isham Jones had a major hit with it. Other popular versions in 1923 were by Marion Harris, Original Memphis Five, Lewis James, and Irving Kaufman.

Joseph Aloysius Burke was an American composer and pianist. His successful songs, written with various lyricists, included "Down Honolulu Way" (1916), "Oh How I Miss You Tonight" (1924), "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" (1929), "Moon Over Miami" (1935), "Getting Some Fun Out of Life" (1937) and "Rambling Rose" (1948) and "Painting The Clouds With Sunshine" (1929)

"Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" is an American song written by Benny Davis and Murray Mencher. The song was a success for two artists in two different genres: Connie Francis in the pop field in 1962 and Margo Smith as a country version in 1978.

"Ain't Misbehavin'" is a 1929 stride jazz/early swing song. Andy Razaf wrote the lyrics to a score by Thomas "Fats" Waller and Harry Brooks for the Broadway musical comedy play Connie's Hot Chocolates.

"A Garden in the Rain" is a popular song. The music was composed by Carroll Gibbons, the lyrics by James Dyrenforth. The song was published in 1928. The song was first recorded by the composer, Carroll Gibbons with the Savoy Hotel Orpheans and vocals by George Metaxa, in July 1928.

"Follow the Boys" is a 1963 romantic ballad written to serve as the theme song for the 1963 comedy film of the same name: the song was introduced in the film by its top billed star: Connie Francis, for whom "Follow the Boys" was a Top 20 hit single.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter</span> 1962 single performed by Connie Francis

"I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter" is a 1962 single by Connie Francis, released in that December to peak at #18 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100. The song reached #22 UK in December 2008 via a remake by Gabriella Cilmi titled "Warm This Winter".

"Fallin'" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, that was recorded by Connie Francis on 2 September 1958 at Metropolitan Studio (NYC) in a session produced by Morton "Morty" Kraft who also conducted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">She Thinks I Still Care</span> Song written by Dickey Lee and Steve Duffy

"She Thinks I Still Care" is a country song written by Dickey Lee and Steve Duffy. The song was recorded by multiple artists, including George Jones, Connie Francis, Anne Murray, Elvis Presley and Patty Loveless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stupid Cupid</span>

"Stupid Cupid" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka which became a hit for Connie Francis in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lipstick on Your Collar (song)</span> 1959 single by Connie Francis

"Lipstick on Your Collar" is a song written by Brill Building staff writers Edna Lewis (lyrics) and George Goehring (music) which was a 1959 hit single for Connie Francis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forget Domani</span>

"Forget Domani" is a song introduced in the 1964 film The Yellow Rolls-Royce being a composition by Riz Ortolani, who scored the film, and lyricist Norman Newell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connie Francis discography</span>

This is the discography of American pop singer Connie Francis. Throughout her career, she has sold 100 million records worldwide. In 1959, she was recognized as the then best-selling female recording artist in Germany and was once hailed as the worlds best-selling female vocalist in history at that time. She was the first woman to reach #1 on Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked her as the 8th Top Artist of the Decade (60s).

<i>Rock with Sedaka</i>

Rock with Neil Sedaka or just Neil Sedaka is the first major solo album of Neil Sedaka released in April 1959 after two 1958 albums under the titles Neil Sedaka and The Tokens and Neil Sedaka and The Tokens and Coins. The album was released by RCA Victor and was produced by Al Nevins. The album contains 12 songs, all of them co-written by Sedaka and his friend Howard Greenfield. Two of the songs became successful singles for Sedaka from the album, namely "The Diary", his debut single that was a hit, reaching No. 14 on the US Billboard charts, and "I Go Ape", a single that was relatively successful in the United States reaching No. 42, but did far better in the UK Singles Chart, making it up to No. 9 and his debut single in the United Kingdom.

<i>My Thanks to You</i> 1959 studio album by Connie Francis

My Thanks to You is a studio album recorded by American entertainer Connie Francis. The album features songs which had been popular on both sides of the Atlantic between the 1920s and the 1940s. It was recorded March 4–6, 1959, at EMI's famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

<i>Whos Sorry Now?</i> (Connie Francis album) 1958 studio album by Connie Francis

Who's Sorry Now? is the first studio album recorded by U. S. Entertainer Connie Francis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Where the Boys Are (Connie Francis song)</span> 1961 single by Connie Francis

"Where the Boys Are" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield for, and first recorded by, Connie Francis as the title track of the 1960 movie by the same name in which she was co-starring.

References

  1. Gene Austin – Carolina Moon / I Wish I Had Died In My Cradle (Before I Grew Up To Love You) (1929, Shellac), March 1929, retrieved 2021-08-07
  2. Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 39. ISBN   0-85112-250-7.
  3. CD liner notes: Chart-Toppers of the Twenties, 1998 ASV Ltd.
  4. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 89–90. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.