Fly me to the moon
Fly Me to the Moon is a song by the composer and songwriter Bart Howard , who published it in 1954 under the title In Other Words by Howie Richmond's music publisher. To date, several hundred versions have been created in a wide variety of styles. One of the most famous is Frank Sinatra's interpretation from 1964.
Structure of the song
The 32-bar composition is in the ABAB song form and has an “effective change from major to minor ” in the middle . While the original was composed in 3/4 time, many of the later versions are recorded in 4/4 time been.
history
Early versions and title change
In Other Words , "with a text in which not a word is too much", was first interpreted in 1954 by Felicia Sanders on the concert stage. The first studio recording was made in the same year by Kaye Ballard at Decca ; it was followed by Johnny Mathis (1956) and Nancy Wilson (1959).
Under the now amended title Fly Me To The Moon , the song was also an international success in 1960 in the version of jazz singer Mabel Mercer . Mercer's recording was followed by versions by Sarah Vaughan , Mel Tormé and Jack Jones (all in 1962), by Julie London and Perry Como (both in 1963), among others . In 1964, Joe Harnell's instrumental version reached the top 40 .
Frank Sinatra
In June 1964 Frank Sinatra recorded the piece, arranged by Quincy Jones , together with the Count Basie band for his reprise album It Might As Well Be Swing ; In 1966 there was also an official live recording of Sinatra with Basie ( Sinatra At The Sands , Reprise).
In May 1969, the studio recording from 1964 was part of a music cassette that the astronauts of the Apollo 10 spacecraft played on board during their flight into lunar orbit; In July 1969 it was transmitted from the ground station to the astronauts of Apollo 11 by radio on board during their lunar landing flight and could thus be heard worldwide as part of the television broadcast of this event. At a gala concert in honor of the crew of Apollo 11 in the Astrodome of Houston on August 18, 1969 Sinatra sang among other things, that song live.
Sinatra kept the piece in its concert programs until 1995 and played it again several times in the studio; his last studio recording in 1993 was released in 1994 as a duet with Antônio Carlos Jobim , and in 1995 as a duet with George Strait .
More artists
In Other Words or Fly Me to the Moon , numerous other instrumentalists and vocalists of various styles recorded. These include Paul Anka , Shirley Bassey , Michael Bolton , Eva Cassidy , Lyn Collins , Chris Connor , Bobby Darin , Doris Day , Agnetha Fältskog , Judy Garland , Paul Gilbert , Astrud Gilberto , Megumi Hayashibara , Al Hirt , Tom Jones , Brenda Lee , Mina , Chris Montez , Matt Monro , Dudley Moore , Helen O'Connell , Ray Quinn , Cliff Richard , Smokey Robinson , Helge Schneider , Kevin Spacey with Westlife , Anna Ternheim , Leslie Uggams , Hikaru Utada , Dinah Washington , Frances Wayne , Robbie Williams , The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain , Bobby Womack and Mark Murphy .
Development to the jazz standard
Early instrumental recordings include versions by Laurindo Almeida , Art Farmer (in an arrangement by Oliver Nelson ) and the quintet by Roy Haynes (with Roland Kirk ). Wes Montgomery recorded a guitar version in 1968; in addition, the interpretation by Ernest Ranglin should be mentioned. Also Sadao Watanabe and Dick Hyman have recorded the song. Out of the abundance of vocal recordings, apart from Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett (1965) stand out. Furthermore, Ella Fitzgerald , Anita O'Day , Annie Ross , Diana Krall , Johnny Hartman , Paul Kuhn , Michael Bublé and Roger Cicero to name (in German).
Further use
In the Japanese anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), a different version was used as the closing song for each of the 26 episodes. In the last scene of the film Space Cowboys (2000) the song is played in the version of Frank Sinatra. The console game Bayonetta (2009) uses Brenda Lee's 1963 recording in the credits and a remix by Helena Noguerra in various scenes of the game. Ulrich Woelk prefixed the first verse of the song to his novel The Summer of My Mother (2019) as the motto.
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .