Our research into Edward W. Roman's authorship of the 1934 American standard, "Blue Moon," necessitated an examination of its unusual and complicated copyright history.
The song as we know it today was registered for copyright by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. on December 5, 1934. But in the year and a half prior—on July 10, 1933, March 30, 1934, and May 9, 1934—the studio had also registered three previous iterations as unpublished works. Intended for MGM films, these versions featured titles and lyrics far removed from those of "Blue Moon." Authorship was credited to Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, who were under contract as songwriters to MGM throughout 1933 and into March 1934, decamping at that point to rival Paramount.
Essential to our study was a review of what are called the "deposits," the material actually copyrighted by the U.S. Copyright Office of the Library of Congress. Curiously, and to our dismay—because the melody (if not the lyrics) would have been closest to what Ed Roman wrote in 1931 and sent to New York song broker Jack Mahoney—the earliest deposit was missing, and nowhere to be found.
From our review what stood out was the extent to which the lyrics and titles of the unpublished works weakened the entirety of those earlier renditions. None present with the artistic assurance and emotional resonance of the published song, "Blue Moon."
A look at the copyright history follows, in conjunction with the deposits. What it reveals about Roman's involvement is explored in three sections of the Memoir: "Song With a Secret," "Papers in the Attic," and "Legacy."
Blue moon, you saw me standing alone,
Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own.
Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for,
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for.
And then there suddenly appeared before me,
The only one my arms will ever hold.
I heard somebody whisper, “Please adore me.”
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold!
Blue moon,
Now I’m no longer alone,
Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own.