Lost in the shuffle, I've drifted an' strayed
Bruised by the city, bewildered, betrayed
With a heart heavy laden with faltering strides
I have come to the bridge, to the line that divides!
What am I doing up here in a daze
As I gaze at the cold river bed?
Why do I ask myself, "Shall I go back
when I seem to be going ahead?"
To black moonlight!
Where everything reflects your colour
Darkness that is endless
nights that leave me friendless blue!
Black moonlight!
You make the lights of Harlem duller
Just like me you're faded, jaded and degraded too!
Why must you send
ebony moonbeams, depressing, distressing
like shadows of love that are gone?
Where will it end?
Will it spread on to the starlight, the sunlight
and darken each promise of dawn?
Black moonlight!
I've lost all power to resist you
Madly, I await you, even though I hate you
Black, black moonlight!
Music by Arthur Johnston
with lyrics by Arthur Coslow, 1933