110–Blue Moon

Holy Moley, kids. It's another overstuffed episode of the show for you. But, I guess that's what happens when you're dealing with a song that goes clear back to 1933. "Blue Moon" was written by Rodgers and Hart, and it was going to be used in a movie, then it wasn't. Then it was going to be used in another movie, then it wasn't. Then it was again, and the publisher at MGM thought the melody would make a pretty nice popular song, so he convinced Lorenz Hart to change the lyrics. And it did take some convincing, for reasons you'll get to hear about during the show. While you're here, let me give extra thanks to Bill Tyres for his permission to use the audio from one of his YouTube videos. You can find his over at his main webpage, or through his YouTube channel. Tell him I sent you. Also, as promised, here are the stories about the woman who claims her dad was the true composer of the song:New York Times article (soft paywall)Liz Roman Gallese's website. And finally, as a little bonus, here's Elvy Yost, singing the first incarnation of the song. She appeared on an episode of The Catch singing a later version of it (and it looked like a YouTube video in the show), but it doesn't appear that she actually made a video for YT consumption. Click here for a transcript of this episode.