| "Shine On, Harvest Moon" | |
|---|---|
 Cover, sheet music, 1908 | |
| Song | |
| Language | English |
| Published | 1908 |
| Composer(s) | Nora Bayes |
| Lyricist(s) | Jack Norworth |
"Shine On, Harvest Moon" is a popular early-1900s song credited to the married vaudeville team Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. It was one of a series of moon-related Tin Pan Alley songs of the era. The song was debuted by Bayes and Norworth in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908 to great acclaim. It became a pop standard, and continues to be performed and recorded in the 21st century.
During the vaudeville era, songs were often sold outright, and the purchaser would be credited as the songwriter. John Kenrick's Who's Who in Musicals credits the song's writers as Edward Madden and Gus Edwards. However, David Ewen's All the Years of American Popular Music credits Dave Stamper, who contributed songs to 21 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies and was Bayes' pianist from 1903 to 1908.[1] Vaudeville comic Eddie Cantor also credited Stamper in his 1934 book Ziegfeld - The Great Glorifier.[2]
The earliest commercially successful recordings were made in 1909 by Harry Macdonough and Elise Stevenson (Victor 16259), Ada Jones and Billy Murray (Edison 10134), Frank Stanley and Henry Burr (Indestructable 1075), and Bob Roberts (Columbia 668).[3]
- ^ Ewen, David (1977). All the Years of American Popular Music. Prentice Hall. p. 189. ISBN 0-13-022442-1.
- ^ Cantor, Eddie; David Freedman (1934). Ziegfeld, The Great Glorifier. A.H. King. p. 78.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. p. 578. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.