Who doesn’t love a moonlit night? The moon inspires poetry, romance, flights of fancy, and, sure, music. The moon is pretty essential to us; we mark the passages of the year by it, in the 12 rotations the moon makes around the earth each year – we call them “months.” In the old days, it was the most reliable calendar a lot of people had. People worshipped it. Today, we look up at it on clear, warm summer evenings, and we look out at the pale glow of moonlight over snow in winter.
We’ve even sent people up there. At least, the United States has. China, last I heard, was still trying to figure out how to do something we did in the 1960s.
But moon music, well, is not really a genre itself, but there sure has been a lot of music written dedicated to the moon. Let’s look through time and see seven great examples of moon music.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Moonlight Sonata (1801): More properly called Piano Sonata No. 14, this piano work was dedicated to Beethoven’s pupil Countess Julie “Giuletta” Guiciardi. Beethoven, interestingly, never referred to the work as the Moonlight Sonata. That name was given to the work after Beethoven died by a poet, Ludwig Rellstab. It’s one of Beethoven’s works that actually achieved great popularity while the composer was still alive.
Claude Debussy, Claire De Lune (1905): This is actually the third movement in Debussy’s Suite bergamasque, a four-movement composition for piano. While it was published in 1905, Debussy had written a draft in 1890, and later revised it to the form we know now. Its slow, light-hearted tones were reportedly inspired by the love-sick pantomime performance character of Pierrot.Read More: Start Your Weekend Right With Five Great Tunes From the Greatest Generation
Glenn Miller, Moonlight Serenade (1935): Glenn Miller composed this song in 1935 as Now I Lay Me Down to Weep, a song with lyrics by Eddie Heyman. But Miller fiddled (hah) with the song some, finally producing its final form in 1939. My parents remembered dancing to this song shortly after World War 2, when they were engaged; it was one of the few pieces of music my father ever mentioned enjoying. If you watch any television or film productions set in the WW2 era, you’re probably going to hear this song at some point.
Frank Sinatra, Fly Me To The Moon (1964): Arranged by the great Quincy Jones, this song, from Mr. Sinatra’s album It Might As Well Be Swing, was one of his most famous pieces. The song not only mentions the moon, but it also (perhaps unsurprisingly) became something of a theme for the Apollo moon missions.And, yes, you’re supposed to refer to him as Mr. Sinatra. Show some respect!
Read More: Start Your Weekend Right With 6 Great Songs From Mr. Frank Sinatra
Dean Martin, Blue Moon (1964): Now, Mr. Sinatra is also known for this song, but with all due respect, I have already given Mr. Sinatra one tune in this lineup, so I’ll give another Rat-Packer a chance. From the album Dream With Dean, Dino’s butter-smooth voice really does this one credit. Written in 1933 for the movie Hollywood Party, this song, again, was rewritten several times before emerging in the form we know today. It was originally titled Prayer and was intended to be sung by Jean Harlow – that, sadly, never happened.
Van Morrison, Moondance (1970): Written and produced by Van Morrison (co-produced by Lewis Merenstain) this was first released on the album of the same name in 1970, but was never released as a single until 1977. It did well enough, barely breaking into the US Billboard Hot 100, but it’s always been my favorite Van Morrison song, a neat, sort of two-stepping song with a lot of jazz overtones and some great piano work.I intended to keep this to six songs as usual, but no moon music list would be complete without this:
King Harvest, Dancing In The Moonlight (1973): This song has an interesting back story. It’s a light, upbeat song of dancing, of joy, of warmth, of rightness, a “fine and natural sight.” But the writer, Sherman Kelly, wrote this song while recovering from a gang attack that in 1969 that left him with serious injuries. While recovering, as he lay in bed, he pictured an alternate reality of peace and joy. Perhaps he let that slip in the lyric: “Everybody here is outta sight.”
I don't know why "outta sight" has slipped from our American vernacular. Maybe I'll make an effort to bring it back.
On this Friday, the moon is waning, coming down towards a new moon in a few more days. It will shrink to a crescent, then disappear – but it will be back, growing again to that fate, full moon, once more to illuminate the night with its pale, reflected glow.Got any moon music suggestions? The comments, again, are all yours.
