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