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 history of 'Blue Moon,' 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, in 1931, by a 17-year-old, the son of Polish immigrants, in Troy, on the East bank of the Hudson River in upstate New York. His name was Edward W. Roman."
"I know because I am his daughter, and because I have always known this story. It was part of our family lore 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 by some to whom I've told this story: didn't the composer of a song as iconic as 'Blue Moon' write other songs? Until I went through my father's papers, I wouldn't have been able to answer that question. I hadn't ever thought to ask."
"But he had. A young club manager and aspiring songwriter, Henry R. Dutton—whose name I'd 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 developed songs appear to have originated with Dutton, who in 1936 had copyrighted the music and lyrics of one, 'Am I Really in Love?,'" and the music of the other, "All Because of You."
"The songwriting collaboration, along with other materials that emerge, speaks to the broader point: that from his penning of 'Blue Moon' in 1931 to the settlement of the lawsuit six years later, my father had been fully and energetically engaged in his artistic pursuits."
Blue Moon. The Lawsuit.
Rodgers & Hart Lawsuit Settled? Really.
From the Memoir:
"In the photograph (inThe Knickerbocker Press), my father, young and slim and serious and handsome, and wearing his signature rimless glasses, is seated with (his attorney.) They're dressed in suits and ties. . .and holding a document."
“Dom explained that my father had gotten 'chummy' with Chris after meeting my mother. Chris had heard 'Blue Moon' played on the radio, learned that it had already made $75,000 sheet music alone, and insisted that they sue."
"Dom said Richard Rodgers called my father with an offer to settle for $1,200, not the $900 I had thought as a child. I countered with the $900, but Dom 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
