EVERYONE KNOWS THE SONG
... NO ONE KNEW THE MAN
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Blue Moon. The Real Story.
By Rodgers & Hart? Not Really.
From the Memoir:
". . .the song's history, for all of its known convolutedness and remarkableness, actually begins earlier. Its unknown origins are even more remarkable and convoluted, and its agency lies at that very intersection of those final Hart lyrics being either his 'simplest or most banal.'”
". . .the lyrics weren’t written by Hart, nor the melody by Rodgers. Rather the song was composed by a 17-year-old, the son of Polish immigrants, in Troy, on the East bank of the Hudson River in upstate New York. . . The songwriter's name was Edward W. Roman."
"I know because I am his daughter, and because I have always known this story. It’s been a part of my family for all of my growing-up years, the source of whispers about 'that "Blue Moon" thing' among the adults. . .a matter of curiosity among the more curious of the youngsters, of which I was perhaps the most curious."
Edward W. Roman. Other Songs.
Six Unknown Songs Discovered
From the Memoir:
"I’ve been asked. . .didn’t the composer of a song as immortal as 'Blue Moon' write other songs? To that question I would have had to answer, before I went through the papers in the attic, that I didn’t know."
"But he had. A young club manager and aspiring songwriter, Henry R. Dutton—whose name I had never heard until slipping his letter to my father out of its envelope—proposed shortly after the article in The Knickerbocker Press appeared that they collaborate."
"Two fairly developed songs appear have originated with Dutton, who, in 1936, copyrighted the music and lyrics to one of them, 'Am I Really in Love?' and the music to the other, 'All Because of You.'"
". . .the broader point is that from penning of 'Blue Moon' in 1931 to the settlement of the lawsuit six years later. . .my father was fully engaged in his artistic pursuits."
Blue Moon. The Lawsuit.
Rodgers & Hart Lawsuit Settled? Really.
From the Memoir:
"In The Knickerbocker Press article, there is a picture of my father, young and slim and serious and handsome, in his signature wireless glasses, and wearing a jacket and tie. He’s seated and holding a document with his attorney. . ."
“Uncle Dom told me that my father had gotten 'chummy' with Chris after meeting my mother. Chris had heard the song on the radio, learned that it had made $75,000 in sheet music alone, and insisted that they sue."
"Uncle Dom said Richard Rodgers called my father, with an offer to settle for $1,200. When I countered with the $900 figure I had heard in my childhood, he said, no, the figure had been $1,200, two or three times what most people earned in a year in those days."
Selected Press Coverage of the Lawsuit
