S.O.D. "Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra

4/7/2015     Originally titled "In Other Words,"  this 1954 Traditional Pop, Bossa Nova tune is frequently recorded as a jazz standard and is mostly associated with Frank Sinatra.  Howard often wrote songs with his idol, Cole Porter in mind. For 20 years, Howard pursued a career in music, often playing accompanying piano for cabaret singers and said of this composition, "it took me 20 years to write a song in 20 minutes".  

     More than 300 versions have been recorded with the very first by Kaye Ballard, but it was Peggy Lee in 1963 who convinced Howard to change the name to "Fly Me to the Moon" after she performed it on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Then in 1964 with the backing musicianship and arrangement abilities of Count Basie and Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra's version was born.  It became closely associated with the NASA Apollo space program and became the first music heard on the moon when Buzz Aldrin walked upon it with a portable cassette player.  At NASA's 50th Anniversary Gala, Quincy Jones awarded astronauts John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, platinum copies of Frank Sinatra's album.  

     In 1999 the Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted "Fly Me to the Moon" as a "Towering Song" which is an award given each year to the creators of a musical composition that has influenced our culture in a unique way over the course of many years.