By the Light of the Silvery Moon

By the Light of the Silvery Moon is another popular song from the early 20th Century.  It was first published in 1909.

By the light of the silvery moon
By the light of the silvery moon

The lyrics were written by Edward Madden, who wrote On Moonlight Bay.

The composer was Gus Edwards, who also wrote songs such as  “I Can’t Tell You Why I Love You but I Do”, “Goodbye, Little Girl, Goodbye”, “I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave”, “I’ll Be With You When the Roses Bloom Again”, and  “He’s My Pal”.

By the Light of the Silvery Moon is a series of moon-related songs from the Tin Pan Alley era.

The song was first performed on stage by Lillian Lorraine.  She was the most famous of the Ziegfeld Follies during the 1910s.

In 1953, the film By the Light of the Silvery Moon premiered as a follow-up to the 1951 hit, On Moonlight Bay.  Both films featured Doris Day and Gordon MacRae.  Their version is probably the best known version of this song today.

 

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