Moonglow

The Flood’s had a love of swing era tunes for a very long time — well, since the late Joe Dobbs got us playing “Sunny Side of the Street,” what? More than 20 years ago. One of our favorites is “Moonglow,” a 1930s composition by Eddie DeLange and Will Hudson. And now, here’s a curious bit of trivia about the song. During the Big Band era, this pair wrote a bunch of hits. Usually, Eddie wrote the melodies and Will composed the lyrics, but on “Moonglow” they switched places. Hudson wrote the song originally as an instrumental and only later did DeLange add some words. The song was first recorded by the great jazz violinist Joe Venuti and his orchestra. A year later, Benny Goodman and Ethel Waters had a hit with it. After that, everyone — from Art Tatum to Billie Holiday — took a turn with the tune. For us, it’s a Michelle special. Here’s a rendition from a rehearsal a few weeks ago, with sweet solos by Sam, Paul and Doug. That’s Paul Callicoat on bass and Charlie helping Michelle out a little with some harmony on the choruses. Here’s The Flood’s version of “Moonglow.”