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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Blue Moon

In the post on Richard Rodgers from a couple weeks ago I forgot to include "Blue Moon," one of his great songs from the Rodgers/Hart era, which you're undoubtedly familiar with, but probably hadn't realized was composed by him.

The list of artists who have recorded it pretty much reads like a Who's Who of twentieth century singers: Mel Torme, Billie Holliday, Dizzie Gillespie, Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke, The Marcels, Frank Sinatra, The Ventures, Dean Martin, Bobby Vinton, Sha Na Na, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, Tony Bennett, and many others. Here's Rod Stewart's version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxpnPKxEA1o&feature=related

Richard Rodgers wasn't just Julie Andrews and Shirley Jones. He was Billie Holliday, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan.....

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting that link John . through it I just discovered the most beautiful rendition of this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bKUBNFhW3g

Rona

John Craig said...

Rona --'
I just realized, you just made comments on four different posts on which I'd received exactly zero comments before, thank you.

I listened to your preferred version, and like it, but I think I still prefer Rod Stewart.

Anonymous said...

There's a diner called Blue Moon where I live, having been to it a few times over the years. I wonder if it's named after the song? I've never heard of this song, so I'll look into it.

-birdie

Anonymous said...

I listened to the song via different singers found on YouTube. Of all the singers that I heard sing it, Ella Fitzgerald sang it nicely, appreciating her version of the song.

-birdie

John Craig said...

Birdie --
Ella Fitzgerald is beloved by many, but somehow her singing just doesn't do it for me. Maybe because I've heard other versions of the songs Ive heard she sings, and the first version we hear of a song is usually the one that ends up sounding "right" to us.

If you want to listen to a beautiful song, listen to Lena Horne's version of "Where or When" on youtube.