"Blue Moon" is a classic popular song written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, and has become a standard ballad. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart began writing this for the 1933 movie musical Hollywood Party, but it was cut from the film. The following year, it was used in Manhattan Melodrama - starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy - where it was performed by Shirley Ross in a nightclub scene. The song was originally called "The Bad in Every Man," befitting the story of Gable's kind-hearted criminal, but was rejected by MGM until it was re-worked as "Blue Moon."
Producer Stu Phillips was ordered by his boss not to waste time on the Marcels and to spend his days devoted to a different artist at Colpix Records. But he didn't say anything about his nights. Phillips waited until everyone else had gone home and sneaked the band into the studio for a secret session. They recorded this at the last minute when they recorded three songs and needed a fourth. When one of the members said he knew "Blue Moon," Phillips told him to teach the song to the rest of the group in an hour, then they'd record it.
It is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It may be the first instance of the familiar "50s progression" in a popular song. The song was a hit twice in 1949 with successful recordings in the US by Billy Eckstine and Mel Tormé. In 1961, "Blue Moon" became an international number one hit for the doo-wop group The Marcels. "Blue Moon"'s first crossover recording to rock and roll came from Elvis Presley in 1956.
Richard Rodgers, the writer of the music for the song, was reportedly infuriated by The Marcels' arrangement of the piece and allegedly wrote an open letter unsuccessfully urging the public to boycott the record. Rodgers's widow later denied that this was the case, and the letter, if it ever existed, has since been lost.
"Blue Moon" is a classic popular song written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, and has become a standard ballad. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart began writing this for the 1933 movie musical Hollywood Party, but it was cut from the film. The following year, it was used in Manhattan Melodrama - starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy - where it was performed by Shirley Ross in a nightclub scene. The song was originally called "The Bad in Every Man," befitting the story of Gable's kind-hearted criminal, but was rejected by MGM until it was re-worked as "Blue Moon."
Producer Stu Phillips was ordered by his boss not to waste time on the Marcels and to spend his days devoted to a different artist at Colpix Records. But he didn't say anything about his nights. Phillips waited until everyone else had gone home and sneaked the band into the studio for a secret session. They recorded this at the last minute when they recorded three songs and needed a fourth. When one of the members said he knew "Blue Moon," Phillips told him to teach the song to the rest of the group in an hour, then they'd record it.
It is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It may be the first instance of the familiar "50s progression" in a popular song. The song was a hit twice in 1949 with successful recordings in the US by Billy Eckstine and Mel Tormé. In 1961, "Blue Moon" became an international number one hit for the doo-wop group The Marcels. "Blue Moon"'s first crossover recording to rock and roll came from Elvis Presley in 1956.
Richard Rodgers, the writer of the music for the song, was reportedly infuriated by The Marcels' arrangement of the piece and allegedly wrote an open letter unsuccessfully urging the public to boycott the record. Rodgers's widow later denied that this was the case, and the letter, if it ever existed, has since been lost.
"Blue Moon" is a classic popular song written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, and has become a standard ballad. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart began writing this for the 1933 movie musical Hollywood Party, but it was cut from the film. The following year, it was used in Manhattan Melodrama - starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy - where it was performed by Shirley Ross in a nightclub scene. The song was originally called "The Bad in Every Man," befitting the story of Gable's kind-hearted criminal, but was rejected by MGM until it was re-worked as "Blue Moon."
Producer Stu Phillips was ordered by his boss not to waste time on the Marcels and to spend his days devoted to a different artist at Colpix Records. But he didn't say anything about his nights. Phillips waited until everyone else had gone home and sneaked the band into the studio for a secret session. They recorded this at the last minute when they recorded three songs and needed a fourth. When one of the members said he knew "Blue Moon," Phillips told him to teach the song to the rest of the group in an hour, then they'd record it.
It is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It may be the first instance of the familiar "50s progression" in a popular song. The song was a hit twice in 1949 with successful recordings in the US by Billy Eckstine and Mel Tormé. In 1961, "Blue Moon" became an international number one hit for the doo-wop group The Marcels. "Blue Moon"'s first crossover recording to rock and roll came from Elvis Presley in 1956.
Richard Rodgers, the writer of the music for the song, was reportedly infuriated by The Marcels' arrangement of the piece and allegedly wrote an open letter unsuccessfully urging the public to boycott the record. Rodgers's widow later denied that this was the case, and the letter, if it ever existed, has since been lost.