Blue Moon

Cosmophonia

On this Super Blue Moon, we discuss the superstar tune "Blue Moon." We begin our conversation assessing the contested definition of an astronomical "blue moon," finding surprising parallels with the human-centered vision of the moon that the song exhibits. We then delve into the muddy and fraught history of how the song emerged into the public consciousness and marvel at is ability to remain universally appealing, appearing fresh and new with each new performance, arrangement, and recording through the decades.

Special thanks to Liz Roman Gallese, who kindly answered our inquiries about particular details. She infers that discrepancies between the settlement amounts her father received can be explained by subtracting the attorney fee.

References

Sky and Telescope, "Blue Moons - Origins and History"

The first music break is The Melachrino Strings, "Blue Moon"

Lorenz Hart, Dorothy Hart, and Robert Kimball, "The Complete Lyrics of Lorenz Hart"

Liz Roman Gallese, https://bluemoonsong.org/

The Marcels, "Blue Moon" (1961)

For a fun "weird" treatment of the song, check out Duke Ellington's version