The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives was my third pick for SMB songs! I am a huge Crane Wives fan, and I got to see them in concert as my first ever live music event last year! This song has quite a few more lyrics than my other choies, so I’ll only be going over the most notable sections.

Tell me once again
I could have been anyone, anyone else
Before you made the choice for me

I read this part as Nick talking to Daisy. He comes to New York via her help, and she has him pretend that he is the son of one of her mother’s maids, rather than her cousin. She makes the choice for him to be unrelated to her, keeping him down.

All those empty rooms
We could have been anywhere, anywhere else
Instead, I made a bed with apathy

This would be Nick lamenting the “loss” of Daisy, since she is no longer living as a Fabrego, but as a Fay, and only refers to him as a friend. Their relationship becomes “an empty room”, which Nick sticks around for, having to rely on her help in order to remain in New York for the time being.

My heart knew the weight
Ten years worth of dust and neglect
We made our peace with weariness and let it be

I think that Nick and Daisy’s relationship has been damaged since she moved to New York in the first place. This could be the ten years worth of dust and neglect- her keeping up contact with her family, but lying to them about the life she is living. She becomes comfortable with this, makes her peace with it.

The moon will sing a song for me
I loved you like the sun
Bore the shadows that you made
With no light of my own
I shine only with the light you gave me

Back to Nick. In the book, Nick compares himself to the moon, which is a large reason why I selected this song in the first place; it is primarily about the singer seeing themselves as only a reflection of their loved one’s light, as the moon reflects the sun. This applies to Nick for both Daisy and Gatsby. They are creative, boisterous, shining personalities that do everything they can to help Nick, who actually wants to earn his own means, shining on his own. Nick lives his life in the shadows of Gatsby and Daisy, loving them regardless, though he worries he doesn’t have the same value without them.