Key Largo

By Benny Carter, Karl Suessdorf & Leah Worth
1948

Written for the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film of the same name, this smooth, gentle number was introduced by Carter's own band. It would later become a popular tune with the progressive jazz performers who would emerge in the 1950s.

Lyrics:

Key largo,
Alone on Key Largo,
How empty it seems,
With only my dreams

Strange cargo,
They come to Key Largo,
But where is the face
My heart won’t erase?

The moon tide,
Rolling in from the sea,
Is lonely,
and it always will be, till you’re with me.

And I know,
I’ll stay in Key Largo,
Just watching the shore
To find you once more

In Key Largo, find you once more in Key Largo.

Recorded By:

Sarah Vaughan
Benny Carter

Moonlight in Vermont

By John Blackburn & Karl Suessdorf
1943

A beautiful song about a beautiful state, "Moonlight in Vermont" was introduced by the incomparable Margaret Whiting. Rare for a pop song, it contains a subtle meter which features no end rhyming. Also, each stanza (not including the bridge) is structured as a haiku. It's considers the state's unofficial song, and is often played as the first dance at Vermont weddings.

Lyrics:

Pennies in a stream,
Falling leaves, a sycamore,
Moonlight in Vermont.

Icy finger-waves,
Ski trails on a mountainside,
Snowlight in Vermont.

Telegraph cables, they sing down the highway,
And travel each bend in the road.
People who meet in this romantic setting,
Are so hypnotized by the lovely...

Ev'ning summer breeze,
Warbling of a meadowlark,
Moonlight in Vermont.

Recorded By:

Jo Stafford
Frank Sinatra
Ray Charles
Willie Nelson
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong