jmjiloveyou

<p>"<strong>Blue Moon</strong>" is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">popular song</a> written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rodgers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Richard Rodgers</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_Hart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lorenz Hart</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_in_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1934</a> that has become a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_standard" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">standard</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ballad</a>. Early recordings included those by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connee_Boswell" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Connee Boswell</a> and by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Bowlly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Al Bowlly</a> in 1935. The song was a hit twice in 1949, with successful recordings in the U.S. by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Eckstine" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Billy Eckstine</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Torm%C3%A9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mel Tormé</a>.</p><h2>In 1961, "Blue Moon" became an international number-one hit for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo-wop" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">doo-wop</a> group <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marcels" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Marcels</a>, on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Billboard</em> 100</a> chart and in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Singles_Chart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UK Singles Chart</a>, and later that same year, an instrumental version by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ventures" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Ventures</a> charted at No. 54. Over the years, "Blue Moon" has been covered by many artists, including versions by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Frank Sinatra</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Stafford" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jo Stafford</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Fitzgerald" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ella Fitzgerald</a>, Under the Streetlamp, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Stevens" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ray Stevens</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Billie Holiday</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Bowlly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Al Bowlly</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A1lia_Rodrigues" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amália Rodrigues</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elvis Presley</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Vinton" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bobby Vinton</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Cooke" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sam Cooke</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Platters" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Platters</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mavericks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Mavericks</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Martin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dean Martin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_De_Carlo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yvonne De Carlo</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Supremes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Supremes</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyndi_Lauper" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cyndi Lauper</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Edition" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New Edition</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bob Dylan</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatics_(band)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chromatics</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Stewart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rod Stewart</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_Crosby" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bing Crosby</a> included the song in a medley on his album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Happy_Side" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>On the Happy Side</em></a> (1962). The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Junkies" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cowboy Junkies</a> recorded the song on their album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trinity_Sessions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Trinity Sessions</em></a>. It is also served as the anthem for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Premier League</a> club, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_City_F.C." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Manchester City</a>.</h2><h2><br></h2><h2>Background</h2><p>Rodgers and Hart were contracted to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer</a> in May 1933. They were soon commissioned to write the songs for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Party_(1934_film)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Hollywood Party</em></a>, a film that was to star many of the studio's top artists. Rodgers recalled,</p><blockquote>One of our ideas was to include a scene in which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Harlow" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jean Harlow</a> is shown as an innocent young girl saying—or rather singing—her prayers. How the sequence fitted into the movie I haven't the foggiest notion, but the purpose was to express Harlow's overwhelming ambition to become a movie star ('Oh Lord, if you're not busy up there,/I ask for help with a prayer/So please don't give me the air ...').<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-party-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a></blockquote><p>The song was not recorded (the movie was released without Harlow in 1934<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-party-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a>) and MGM Song No. 225 "Prayer (Oh Lord, make me a movie star)" dated June 14, 1933, was registered for copyright as an unpublished work on July 10, 1933.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-Brent-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a></p><p>Hart wrote new lyrics for the tune to create a title song for the 1934 film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Melodrama" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Manhattan Melodrama</em></a>: "Act One:/You gulp your coffee and run;/Into the subway you crowd./Don't breathe, it isn't allowed".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-Kanfer-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a> The song, which was also titled "It's Just That Kind of Play", was cut from the film before release, and registered for copyright as an unpublished work on March 30, 1934. The studio then asked for a nightclub number for the film. Rodgers still liked the melody so Hart wrote a third lyric: "The Bad in Every Man" ("Oh, Lord ... /I could be good to a lover,/But then I always discover/The bad in ev'ry man"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-Kanfer-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a>), which was sung by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Ross" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shirley Ross</a>.</p><p>After the film was released by MGM, Jack Robbins—the head of the studio's publishing company<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-Martini-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[4]</a>—decided that the tune was suited to commercial release but needed more romantic lyrics and a punchier title. Hart was initially reluctant to write yet another lyric but he was persuaded.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-Brent-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> Robbins licensed the final version of the song to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Hotel_(radio_program)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Hollywood Hotel</em></a>, a radio program that used it as the theme. The cover of Robbins' 1934 sheet music edition credits <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Fio_Rito" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ted Fio Rito</a> (vocal by Muzzy Marcellino) as introducing the song, recorded on Brunswick 7315, October 19, 1934.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[5]</a> The song charted in the Top Ten for 18 weeks in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Variety</em></a>, reaching number 1 on January 26, 1935.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[6]</a> The song was also recorded by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Gray" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Glen Gray</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Loma_Orchestra" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Casa Loma Orchestra</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decca_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Decca Records</a> in November 1934<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[7]</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connee_Boswell" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Connee Boswell</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Brunswick Records</a> in 1935. It subsequently was featured in at least seven MGM films, including the Marx Brothers' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Circus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>At the Circus</em></a> (1939) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viva_Las_Vegas" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Viva Las Vegas</em></a> (1964).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-Brent-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> There are two introductory verses in the original Robbins sheet music edition. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Clapton" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Eric Clapton</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Stewart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rod Stewart</a> sang the first verse in their 2004 version of the song (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust:_The_Great_American_Songbook,_Volume_III" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III</em></a>). The last line of the first verse is: "Life was a bitter cup for the saddest of all men."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)#cite_note-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[8]</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>