The lyrics for “Moonlight in Vermont” are unusual in that they don’t rhyme. Yet they work perfectly, picturing fall in New England with the glinting water of streams, ski trails in the snow, falling leaves, and bird song.

In her book The Craft of Lyric Writing, Sheila Davis quotes lyricist John Blackburn as saying, “After completing the first 12 bars of the lyric, I realized there was no rhyme and then said to Karl, ‘Let’s follow the pattern of no rhyme throughout the song. It seemed right.”

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Of additional interest is that all of the “A” sections of Moonlight in Vermont are in haiku form. A Japanese Haiku is a three-line poem with a 5/7/5 syllable count.

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– Chris Tyle / Jeremy Wilson

Musical analysis of “Moonlight in Vermont”

Original Key Db major; brief false key change to F major in “B.” Additionally, the original sheet music edition contains a restatement of the melody in two additional keys (Bb major and Eb major). Form A – A – B – A; sometimes a two or four measure tag is added. Tonality Primarily major Movement “A” is a descending pentatonic scale with one altered tone (Bbb or A natural) added as an embellishment at the bottom. “B” consists of a single pitch repeated, leaping up an octave and descending a minor third. This entire phrase is then repeated a half-step higher.

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Comments (assumed background)

The harmonic progression-quite advanced for its time and heralding the advent of “cool”-makes sophisticated use of simple elements. Part of this lies in the melodic tones that make up the chord extensions (particularly the 13th, 11th, 9th and flatted 5th). The transition at “B” is particularly interesting in its abrupt jump to a “distant” key (Db major to F major) and smooth return to the original tonic by way of chromatic movement. From the last tonic chord of “A,” the harmony leaps up a tri-tone in a ii7 embellishment of the V7 of the new key (Gm9 – C7(b9b5) -Fma9) while the melody note forms the 11th of the initial chord. The new tonic is followed by VI (V7/ii) in a brief turnaround before settling once more on the F major tonality. The entire sequence is then repeated a half-step higher, putting the tonality into Gb major-closely related and easily modulated to Db.

Although the original changes are elegant, the construction of the melody-particularly “B”-does contain opportunities to use varying harmonies and chord substitutions.

K. J. McElrath – Musicologist for JazzStandards.com

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