CAROLINA MOON

CAROLINA MOON

---

This 1928 song became a standard (often sung), but with the demise of the traditional pop crooner is rarely heard these days. Dean Martin's recording is on youtube, as is a recording by Country star Jim Reeves. Both singers are now deceased.
    Reeves was a major player in the development of the so-called "Nashville Sound" in Country music, making Country more mainstream by adding a female chorus, piano, and strings, with a pop-styled vocal (that is, controlling the voice from the chest instead of the throat).
    Dean Martin, whose version is heard here, started out as the "straight man" in the comedy duo of "Martin & Lewis," who became phenomenally popular during the 1940s and 50s until they broke up. Martin continued his singing career while Jerry Lewis released two comedy films each year and presides over the annual TV Telethons that bring in tens of millions of dollars for Multiple Sclerosis.
    Martin predeceased Lewis several years ago, dying a lonely man after his son's death. Apart from singing and starring in films, Martin was also known as Frank Sinatra's pal in the so-called "Rat Pack" Hollywood confederacy. Film director Martin Scorsese has been planning a movie about Martin's life for many years and hopes to make it when he has the ideal cast.
    "Carolina Moon" is, of course, not about a woman named Carolina (the woman is unnamed in the song) but about the moon of the Carolina states (North and South Carolina, named after King George, whose name in Latin is "Carol," hence "the Carolingian dynasty refers to the dynasty of King George).
    Martin's recording begins as a ballad but then shifts to an uptempo rhythm with syncopated jazz phrasing.

Tell her that I'm blue and lonely
Dreamy Carolina moon

Carolina moon keeps shining
Shining on the one who waits for me
Carolina moon I'm pining
Pining for the place I long to be

How I'm hoping tonight you go, go to the right window
Scatter your light say I'm all right please please do, please do
Tell her that I'm blue and lonely
Dreamy dreamy Carolina moon

How I'm hoping tonight you go, go to the right window
Scatter your light say I'm all right please please do
Tell her that I'm blue and oh so lonely
Dreamy Carolina moon
Dreamy Carolina moon.