"Harbor Lights", is a popular song by Northern Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy with music by Hugh Williams (the pseudonym of exiled Austrian composer Will Grosz).
The song was originally recorded by Roy Fox & his Orchestra with vocal by Barry Gray in London on 29 January 1937.
Another famous early version was recorded by American singer Frances Langford in Los Angeles on 14 September 1937[1] and was published again in 1950.
Kennedy's lyrics describe the sight of harbour lights in the darkness, which signal that the ship carrying the singer's sweetheart is sailing away.
The lonely singer hopes that the lights will someday signal the sweetheart's return.
http://www.michaelcooper.org.uk/C/harbourl.htm The song has been recorded by many artists; charting versions were recorded by Sammy Kaye, Guy Lombardo, Bing Crosby, Ray Anthony, Ralph Flanagan, Elvis Presley and Ken Griffin.
Other versions were recorded by The Ink Spots, Lawrence Welk, LaVern Baker, The Platters, Engelbert Humperdinck, Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Vera Lynn, Clyde McPhatter, Arthur Tracy and Jon Rauhouse.
In an episode of M*A*S*H ("Your Retention, Please"), Klinger (Jamie Farr), while nursing a broken heart, plays the song over and over again on a jukebox.