Moonlight Becomes You

Written: 1942

Music by: Jimmy Van Heusen

Words by: Johnny Burke

Written for: Road to Morocco
(movie, 1942)

On the Main Stage at Cafe Songbook

Willie Nelson

performing

"Moonlight Becomes You"

on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Nelson recorded "Moonlight Becomes You" as the title track on his 1993-94 album (rereleased 2000)-- personnel on the album includes Paul Buskirk, mandola; Johnny Gimble fiddle; Freddie Powers, rhythm guitar; and Dean Reynolds, bass

More Performances of "Moonlight Becomes You"
in the Cafe Songbook Record/Video Cabinet
(Video credit )

Cafe Songbook Reading Room

"Moonlight Becomes You"

Critics Corner || Lyrics Lounge

When lyricist Johnny Burke arrived in Hollywood in 1935 (for the second time) he went to work for Paramount in what turned out to be a lifetime job, writing the songs, all toll, for forty-one of the studio's movies. He first collaborated with Arthur Johnston, then with James Monaco. When the older Monaco left Paramount for Fox, Burke got paired with Jimmy Van Heusen, who had arrived in Hollywood from New York where he had been working on Broadway. The new team got as their first assignment the Crosby-Hope film Road to Zanzibar (1941). Van Heusen and Burke wound up writing the songs for all but one of the "Road" pictures, the second of which was Road to Morocco in 1942, in which "Moonlight Becomes You" outshines several other very good songs.

The movie opens with two shipwrecked castaways on a raft. Jeff (Bing Crosby) and Orville, aka Turkey (Bob Hope) soon wash up on a beach without a clue as to where they are. A very sweet camel finds them and transports the pair out onto the dessert where a sign reading "Road to Morocco" supplies the clue to their whereabouts as well as their cue to sing the Van Heusen / Burke title song for the film.

Bing Crosby and Bob Hope sing the title song from
Road to Morocco (1942)

By the time they've finished singing a couple of choruses of "Road to Morocco," they find themselves in a city where Hope's hand gets mysteriously caressed by a woman passing by hidden inside what looks like the royal rickshaw. The woman (Dorothy Lamour) is no less than a princess who fancies Hope, or at least his hand, and quickly arranges for her thuggish servants to get Crosby to sell Hope to them to satisfy the royal lust. Hope is soon cavorting with the princess, and Crosby, having spent the money, strolls through the town singing "Ain't Got a Dime to My Name," the movie's second song.

Bing Crosby sings "Ain't Got a Dime to My Name"
from "Road to Morocco" (1942)

Bing is interrupted by a note that floats down from a palace window, in which Hope disingenuously pleads with him to "flea" for his life and forget about him. Crosby promptly ignores his buddy's request and discovers why Hope wants to get rid of him. The princess has Hope in bed, seducing him with the next Van Heusen / Burke song, "Constantly." Crosby tries to explain but Hope denies he knows him and attempts to get the princess's men to cart off the potential rival. Lamour, who apparently appreciates an assortment of men, saves Crosby, though she continues to fancy Hope. When Crosby, strolling on the palace grounds beneath her balcony, serenades her with "Moonlight Becomes You" her heart yields to Der Bingle.

Bing Crosby introduces "Moonlight Becomes You So"
singing it to Dorothy Lamour in Road to Morocco (1942).

The plot thickens when a handsome sheik (Anthony Quinn) arrives to claim the princess. The remainder of the film is devoted to the comic working out of all the troubles that ensue, mostly sans the singing. We do, however, continue to hear strains of "Moonlight Becomes You" here and there, including Lamour singing it when she appears as an apparition to the boys who are trying to escape across the desert. This comic version of the song morphs into a magical trio (Lamour, Crosby and Hope) during which the various voices switch from character to character, ending with what sounds like a chord á la The Boswell Sisters.

The Crosby, Hope and Lamour "Trio" sing "Moonlight Becomes You."

The song makes one last fleeting appearance as Hope hums it just before his cigarette sets off an explosion and sinks the ship that is transporting the four of them (the boys, Lamour and her maid) back to New York. In the final scene, they are all on what looks like the same raft used in the opening scene, this time, however, just off shore from Manhattan.

Like so many other great songs that come from movies, "Moonlight Becomes You" gets recognized by the filmmakers right from the start. It or parts of it are reprised throughout the film to provide the movie with its musical unity.

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