Moanin' Low

Written: 1928

Music by: Ralph Rainger

Words by: Howard Dietz

Written for: The Little Show
(revue, 1929)

On the Main Stage at Cafe Songbook

Teddy Wilson (piano)
Billie Holiday (vocal)

performing

"Moanin' Low"

featuring Johnny Hodges, alto sax; Cootie Williams, trumpet; Cozy Cole, drums; Harry Carney, clarinet and baritone sax; Allan Reuss, guitar; John Kirby, bass
(recorded in New York City, March 31, 1937
on the Brunswick label)

More Performances of "Moanin' Low" in the Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet

Cafe Songbook Reading Room

"Moanin' Low"

Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge

"Moanin' Low" sheet music 1929 from The Little Show

Howard Dietz. Dancing in the Dark: Words by Howard Dietz. New York: Quadrangle,
The New York Times Book Co., 1974

DVD

The Little Show was a revue that, according to Howard Dietz, should not be compared to the large and lavish revues of Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll but rather to something like the topical and witty Garrick Gaities. Comparisons have also been made to the previous decade's intimate Princess Theater shows of Jerome Kern, P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton and the British Charlot Revues. The show was produced by Dwight Deere Wiman and William A. Brady in association with Tom Weatherly, the latter two of whom recruited Dietz in a speakeasy on West 49th Street to do the lyrics and some sketches. George S. Kaufman also wrote sketches and the producers suggested to Dietz that he work with composer Arthur Schwartz for the music. All the songs in the show, with the exception of "Can't We Be Friends? (music by Kay Swift, words by Paul James), "Moanin' Low" (music by Ralph Rainger, words by Howard Dietz) and "A Little Hut in Hoboken" (words and music by Herman Hupfeld) had music by Schwartz and lyrics by Dietz. The Little Show was the first of eleven collaborations for Broadway shows by that songwriting team.

The more well known members of the cast included Fred Allen, Libby Holman and Clifton Webb the last of whom introduced "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan." The show opened on April, 30, 1929 and ran for 321 performances at The Music Box theater.

Libby Holman Singing "Moanin' Low" for a 1929 Brunswick Recording
made while she was appearing in The Little Show, in which she introduced the song.

Claire Trevor, an alcoholic, washed-up singer, sings "Moinin' Low" in the 1948 movie, Key Largo. She is forced into singing for a drink by Edward G. Robinson playing a gangster who has comandeered a house in the Florida Keys while a hurricaine rages outside. After the Robinson character refuses her the drink because she was "rotten," Bogart gives it to her despite Robinson's threats.

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