Marquee Moon

"Marquee Moon" is a song by American rock band Television, recorded for their 1977 debut album of the same name. It was written by the band's lead vocalist and guitarist Tom Verlaine. In the United Kingdom, "Marquee Moon" was released as a single on April 1, 1977. Its first pressing was as a 12" single only, limited to 25,000 copies, with the song in stereo on one side and in mono on the other side. Subsequent pressings of the single were as a 7-inch single, with the track split into two over the A-side and B-side. "Marquee Moon" frequently appears on professional lists of the greatest songs, including Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", on which it ranked 372nd in 2003 and 173rd in 2021. Based on such rankings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists "Marquee Moon" as the 150th most acclaimed song in history. Composition Each of the song's three verses begins with a double-stopped guitar intro before Billy Ficca's drums come in, and after the second chorus Richard Lloyd plays a brief guitar solo. After the third chorus, there is a longer solo by Tom Verlaine, based on a jazz-like Mixolydian scale, that lasts for the entire second half of the song. On the original vinyl edition of the album, the song faded out just short of ten minutes, but the CD reissues have included the full 10:40 of the take. In concert, the band has sometimes extended the song to as long as fifteen minutes.