"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" or "By the Light of the Silv'ry Moon" is a popular love song. The music was written by Gus Edwards, and the lyrics by Edward Madden. The song was published in 1909 and first performed on stage by Lillian Lorraine in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1909. It was one of a series of moon-related Tin Pan Alley songs of the era. The song was also used in the short-lived Broadway show Miss Innocence (September 27-October 9, 1909) when it was sung by Frances Farr. Popular recordings in 1910 were by Billy Murray and The Haydn Quartet; Ada Jones; and The Peerless Quartet. The song has been used in a great many television shows and motion pictures. In 1935, the song in short was used in the Charles Laughton film Ruggles of Red Gap in a segue. Later, the movie of the same title was released in 1953, starring Doris Day. It served as a sequel to On Moonlight Bay, which also starred Doris Day. The song was originally recorded in C major, but has since been sung in E major (Day) and A major (Jimmy Bowen).

Parody

Billy Murray recorded the song Stand Up and Sing for Your Father an Old Time Tune in 1923. The lyrics of Murray's song parody By the Light of the Silvery Moon, portraying an old man who found this new song frivolous.

Recordings

Film appearances

In popular culture

In the late 1970s/early 80s this song was a favourite of the travelling Grangemouth No1 supporters bus.

External multimedia