Songs Never Heard
A craft podcast that spotlights some of the best songs you've never heard.
Songs Never Heard
S1E4: Moon is Winking (Wendy DuMond)
An upbeat tune that takes a turn for the truth.
Moon is Winking on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0t6UwfakXdiivcRbhiSVLL
More of Wendy's music:
Robert Howell:
My name is Robert Howell, and in this series I'll be sharing, and digging into, some of my favorite songs that I've come across during my time in the underground songwriting scene. Songs written by quietly talented people who are creating music on their own terms, in their own spare time. Songs that, more than likely, most of the world will never hear.
Welcome to Songs Never Heard.
This episode's song illustrates how sometimes the most powerful and truthful stories don't end the way we expect them to. Let's hear "Moon is Winking" by Wendy DuMond.
Wendy DuMond:
Julie sits alone in the dark
She looks out the window at the trailer park
The yellow moon just glows
The time is right she knows
No more hesitating
No more thinking
While the moon is winking
The moon is winking
There’s a picture of him on her nightstand
A time when she was proud to call him her man
But that was long ago
Before the stormy winds that blow
That was before the ground started sinking
And the moon was winking
The moon was winking
She’s been planning every day
Waiting for the moon to shine this way
There’s a better life out there
She’s gonna find it she swears
Now Julie sits alone in the sunshine
Light is filtering down through the white pines
And the night has come and gone
The moon it just moved on
She knows there’s no point in wishful thinking
While the moon is winking
The moon is winking
There’ll be no more wishing
Cause the moon’s gone missing
Robert Howell:
I was surprised to discover that "Moon Is Winking" was one of the first songs that Wendy DuMond had ever written. She'd actually only been songwriting for less than half a year when this song came together.
In my experience hanging around songwriting communities, it can take writers a while to find their authentic voice, and develop the confidence, and ability, to tackle emotionally complex material. But Wendy had something working in her favor that songwriting experience couldn't provide.
She was living through an incredibly tough period, a single mother serving as the sole breadwinner for her family, dealing with ongoing custody battles, and feeling deeply trapped in her circumstances. As she puts it, "Songwriting became a lifeline. A place where I could process my reality and speak truths I couldn't always say out loud."
That necessity seems to have given Wendy a kind of fearlessness in her approach to this song. She wasn't caught up in commercial appeal or following songwriting rules. She was writing to survive. And that urgency shows up as one of this song's greatest strengths.
When Wendy was crafting "Moon is Winking," she was drawing from a musical influence that had stuck with her since childhood. Bob Seger's "The Ring." That song left a deep impression on her because it told a story about unfulfilled dreams and the complexities of relationships that don't have neat, happy resolutions.
Seger's approach to storytelling, where characters don't always escape their circumstances, where dreams don't always come true, became a template for how Wendy wanted to approach her own songwriting. She wasn't interested in fairytale endings if they didn't reflect the messiness of real life.
This influence shows up clearly in "Moon is Winking." Like Seger's character, Julie has dreams and plans, but the reality of her situation proves more complicated than simply driving away to a better life. Wendy was determined to tell the truth about what it actually feels like to be trapped, even if that truth wasn't commercially appealing.
As she puts it, "Happy endings aren't always honest endings." That philosophy became the foundation for a song that refuses to give listeners the resolution they might be expecting.
On first listen, most people probably interpret the moon's wink as encouraging. Like the moon is Julie's co-conspirator giving her a supportive wink as she plans her escape. "You've got this, Julie, go for it."
But the final verse changes everything. When we discovered that Julie hasn't left and the moon has moved on, suddenly that wink takes on an entirely different meaning. It wasn't encouragement at all.
The moon had been winking because it was aware of something Julie wasn't. That she wouldn't actually leave, that all her planning and dreaming would amount to wishful thinking. The wink becomes cruel in retrospect, like someone who's in on a joke that you are not.
Wendy confirmed this was completely intentional. She wanted that moment of realization where listeners suddenly rethink everything they'd assumed about the story. With a few well-crafted words, the moon transforms from Julie's ally to a heartlessly entertained witness of her self deception
The production choices on "Moon is Winking" create a fascinating contrast with the story being told. Wendy and her collaborators built an upbeat toe tapping country arrangement that sounds like it could soundtrack a Saturday night at a honky tonk.
But that musical energy pushes against the lyrics in the most effective way possible. While the music invites you to nod along, the story gradually reveals its darker reality. It's almost like it's participating in the same deception as the moon's wink. Presenting one thing while meaning something entirely different.
Wendy says, the country slash americana approach felt natural from the beginning. At the time, she was immersed in old time gospel and roots music through her church, and she never considered writing in any other genre.
But arriving at a fully produced arrangement she was satisfied with was not as easy of a decision. Despite writing the song years ago and performing it regularly, she attempted to record it several times before achieving what you hear today. An illustration of her patience and discernment is how it took her six months to finally decide she needed to rerecord her vocal, despite her band mates telling her it was fine as it was. "It bugged me and I could not let it go," Wendy said, "but I'm glad I did. I think redoing it strengthened the song."
One of the most impressive aspects of "Moon is Winking," is how Wendy managed to craft such an effective bridge so early in her songwriting journey. Bridges are notoriously challenging, even for experienced writers, because they need to accomplish several things at once.
An ideal bridge should provide musical contrast from the verses and chorus, typically featuring a different chord progression, melody or general feel, it should offer a new lyrical perspective or advance the story in a different way.
Many songwriting teachers describe bridges as "the last chance to make someone love your song," because bridges can break up what might be getting repetitive, and rejuvenate the listener's interest.
Wendy's bridge delivers on all these fronts. Musically, it lifts away from the hypnotic, almost resigned tone of the verses in a more hopeful, fully moving melody. Lyrically. It shifts the perspective entirely from a semi observational description of her situation to us hearing about the hopeful thoughts churning in Julie's head. "She's been planning every day waiting for the moon to shine this way. There's a better life out there. She's gonna find it she swears."
The bridge creates the emotional peak of the song. It's the moment where Julie's dreams feel most real and achievable, which makes the final verses revelation that much more devastating.
My favorite line in Moon is winking, is "That was before the ground started sinking." It's such a vivid way to describe how a relationship deteriorates. Not just that things went wrong, but that the very foundation of Julie's world was giving way beneath her feet.
When I asked Wendy about writing that line, she described a methodical approach that came from years of writing short stories before she ever picked up a guitar. She works with lists of rhymes, synonyms, and ideas, constantly editing until the phrase feels, as she referred to it, "inevitable."
That discipline shows throughout her lyrics. Wendy is ruthless about trimming anything that doesn't serve the story's essence. For example, an early version included a verse about Julie's car being packed and her gas tank full. Realistic details, but redundant and rather straightforward. Compare that to a line that did make the cut. "There's a picture of him on her nightstand. A time when she was proud to call him her man," which conveys so much more emotion and backstory.
This editing process can take a while. Wendy says she'll sometimes pause a song for years if she's stuck, because returning with fresh eyes almost always improves it. I suspect her patience and willingness to let a song evolve slowly is one of the reasons Wendy's lyrics are highly regarded in the songwriting communities I've been part of.
The "ground started sinking" line may have come from her systematic process, but it also feels completely natural and emotionally true. To me, it's an amazing way to express how it feels when everything falls apart.
When Wendy first shared "Moon is Winking" on the songwriting boards years ago, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive with one consistent exception. Almost everyone thought she should change the ending. They wanted Julie to actually leave. They wanted the happy escape.
This advice culminated when Wendy paid for a professional evaluation from a Nashville industry insider who told her he thought the song could be a hit if she just gave Julie a different fate. "They didn't like the ending because the woman doesn't leave her husband," Wendy recalls "I felt that ending was more realistic and relevant."
So Wendy held firm. She knew that changing the ending would fundamentally betray what the song was really about. " There are many women who stay in marriages when they are unhappy, "she explains, "they stay to hold things together to make the lives of their children easier, or because maybe they do still love the person they were married to. It's pretty complex and I don't think it's as easy as driving away to a happy ending."
This resistance to commercial pressure reveals something essential about Wendy's approach to writing the song. She was coming from a place of lived experience and hard won truth. As she puts it, "I guess mostly I've always wanted to tell the truth. It's way more messy and complicated than writing: 'She drives away in the night.'"
That commitment to honesty over resolution is what makes "Moon is Winking" so powerful. The song refuses to offer the comfort of a fairytale ending because real life rarely provides one either. Sometimes the most truthful stories are the ones that don't end the way we expect them to.
Songs Never Heard is written and produced by me, Robert Howell. It's a tribute to all the seldom heard talent I've experienced over the years. If you're interested in having one of your songs featured, drop me a note at rrobhowell@gmail.com.
Until next time, keep writing.