Sunday, November 29, 2020

Songbook Sunday: Blue Moon

 I'm going to set aside Sunday mornings for some of my favorite music, the songs of the Great American Songbook. This was the era of great songwriters, producing songs primarily for the stage and screen, with a lyrical emphasis on the ins & outs & ups & downs of love.

I'll be looking at songs by my favorite songsmiths of the period. Today's tune is Blue Moon, by the prolific songwriting duo, Richard Rodgers (music) and Lorenz Hart (lyrics). Mark Steyn gives us the fascinating history of the song here. It's a lovely and simple tune, and has been interpreted by countless performers from jazz to doo-wop to country. It was first released in 1934. This Al Bowlly version from 1935 has a moseying kind of slow swing to it that reminds my of a lot of any number of early Hoagy Carmichael tunes. Bowlly, by the way, was a very popular singer of the 30s.

Here's Mel Torme's lush 1949 version:


And of course there's the famous doo-wop version by The Marcels, released in 1961.


I always think of this song as having a kind of southern charm, a laid-back guitar-strumming country feel. Bob Dylan heard that too.


Go look up Billie Holiday's version, and for a great jazz instrumental interpretation, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. A great song never gets old.

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