Doo Wop

The Marcels turned the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart popular ballad “Blue Moon” into a classic  doo wop song. “Blue Moon” was originally written for the film Manhattan Melodrama in1934, and it became a pop standard.  Many, many artists covered the song, including Elvis Presley, Mel Torme, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Frank Sinatra. The Marcels, though, give it a doo wop flare,  starting it with “bomp-baba-bom,” add a “dip-da-dip,” and going on from there. Evidently, Richard Rodgers disliked the doo wop arrangement enough to take out ads in music publications telling people not to buy the record. Nevertheless, the version by The Marcels reached #1 on both the R&B Chart and Billboard Hot 100 in 1961 as well as on the U.K. Singls Chart, and it earned them an RIAA gold record.

Here are the lyrics to “Blue Moon” by The Marcels:

“Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom
Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom

Dang a dang dang ding a dong ding
Blue moon, moon, moon, moon, moon
Di, Di, Di, Di, Di, moon, moon, moon, blue moon
Di, Di, Di, Di, Di
Blue moon, moon, moon, moon, moon
Di, Di, Di, Di, Di, moon, moon, moon, blue moon

Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom
Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom
Dang a dang dang ding a dong ding

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 do wah wah wah

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

Oooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh

Blue Moon, now I’m no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom
Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom
Dang a dang dang ding a dong ding

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh”

The Marcels were from Pittsburgh and consisted of Cornelius Harp, Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, Ron Mundy, and Richard Knauss. They got their name for the group from the marcel wave, a hair style technique of the time. There were a few other hits of revival songs for the group. The song “Heartaches” rose to #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and also earned an RIAA gold record. The Marcles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

If you are interested in purchasing music from The Marcels, please consider this: Blue Moon

For More Golden Oldies Music

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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