Sort of like a funk record - with the emphasis on "The One"?
(two-three-four) / don't-let-the
- ONE - / STARS
(two-three-four) / get in your
- ONE - / EYES
(two-three-four) / don't let the
- ONE - / MOON
(two-three-four) / break your
- ONE - / HEART
(or is it in something like 5/8? Over to you, Buzby!)
According to the sheet music it's in 4/4, though Willet described it as "an off meter song in which the
band could play as long as they want between phrases, and the singer can begin singing whenever he feels like it"
I know the song well
daf, as it became a country standard and my dad had versions of it by many artists. The one that was his favourite was by top country yodeller
Slim Whitman, though
little old wine drinker Dino also had a crack at it too, in a bit of a mariachi style. The
original Slim Willet version is a lot more honky-tonk/hillbilly (it;s also a lot clearer to hear that the rhythm is in 4/4, but with the vocal, piano and fiddle melodies wandering around all over the shop).
There's an absolutely fantastic in-depth article about the composition and recording of the song
here, including how it came to be covered by Como and Willet's experience of the music industry (he was not a shrinking violet when it came to getting the royalties he was owed by his shady publisher).