Who wrote the legendary pop standard ‘Blue Moon’?
Even if you don’t immediately recognise its title, the vast likelihood is that you are familiar with the song ‘Blue Moon’ in one form or another. A classic pop standard, the song has been recorded, re-recorded, covered, and altered countless times over the decades, with everybody from Billie Holiday to Bob Dylan putting their own unique spin onto the pop ballad. Given that it is now enmeshed with the names of various iconic musicians, though, it can be easy to forget the strange origin story of the song.
Prior to being recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke and Bing Crosby, among countless other legendary musicians, ‘Blue Moon’ had its humble origins in the American film industry. Back in the 1930s, Hollywood was deeply entrenched in its ‘golden age’, producing an almost unimaginable number of pictures and launching the careers of thousands in the process. Of course, music is an essential part of any decent film production, so film studios would often contract their own songwriters to create music for films.
Such was the job of songwriting pair Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, who Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had employed to write music and lyrics for the now largely forgotten film Hollywood Party. While writing for this film, the pair forged the earliest origins of ‘Blue Moon’, intended to feature during a scene in the film during which Jean Harlow prays to become a film star. The song, and Harlow’s role in general, was cut from the film, but the potential for the song remained.
So, when MGM asked the songwriting team to come up with tracks for the similarly obscure film Manhattan Melodrama, the song was dug out, and the lyrics were rewritten. Again, this new version was cut from the film prior to release, but MGM decided that the tune was worthy of commercial release; it just needed a more romantic overtone. Once again, new lyrics were written for the song, and it was finally released in 1934 as ‘Blue Moon’. Instantly, the song was a hit, spending 18 weeks in the top ten and inspiring multiple re-recordings throughout the 1930s.
The most successful of those early re-recordings came in the form of a version recorded by Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra, but that paled in comparison to the intense success of ‘Blue Moon’ when reimagined by Elvis Presley in 1956. Presley’s version, which featured in the MGM film Viva Las Vegas, spent 17 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, largely overshadowing the original recordings from back in the 1930s.
Of course, the composition has been changed and adapted numerous times over the years, either to suit the performance style of a particular artist or to simply modernise the 90-year-old song. Perhaps the most radical change came in 1988 when alternative country outfit Cowboy Junkies reimagined the track for their album The Trinity Session.
Since its initial composition back in the 1930s, over 60 artists have recorded their own version of ‘Blue Moon’, in one form or another. Particularly notable efforts come in the form of Billie Holiday’s version, which takes an almost sarcastic stance towards the lyrics, and Frank Sinatra’s, which sees him imbue the song with the kind of grandiose crooning he became synonymous with.
So, who had the biggest success with ‘Blue Moon’?
It is difficult to say with certainty which, out of all 60 plus versions, has been the most successful version of ‘Blue Moon’. For starters, the Billboard Hot 100 had not yet been created upon the song’s initial release. In those early days, Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra was certainly the definitive recording. However, jazz singer Mel Tormé largely eclipsed that when his 1949 version lasted five weeks in the Billboard chart.
If it was purely a numbers game, it is likely that doo-wop outfit The Marcels would take the crown when it comes to ‘Blue Moon’. Their 1961 recording of the standard managed to reach the very top of the singles chart, both in the US and the UK, for multiple weeks. In fact, the song was so successful that it earned the band a certified gold disc and later had a resurgence due to its prominence in the 1981 film An American Werewolf In London.
