THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

343-The Marcels-Blue Moon.

1961-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 1.33. Co-writer of the song, the legendary Richard Rodgers hated The Marcels ‘Doo-Wop’ arrangement so much that he took out advertisements in the music papers urging people not to buy it.

‘Blue Moon’ was written in 1934, with the music by Richard Rodgers, (1902-1979) (see also best songs 842 and 60) and the lyrics by his long term writing partner Lorenz Hart (1895-1943.) In May 1933 Rodgers and Hart were contracted by ‘Metro-Golden-Mayer’ to write songs for the musical film ‘Hollywood Party.’ ‘Blue Moon’ which at first was titled ‘Prayer (Oh Lord, Make Me a Movie Star’) was not selected for the film, but with re-written lyrics, and this time titled ‘It’s Just That Kind of Play,’ was offered to the 1934 film ‘Manhattan Melodrama,’ but was once again not used. It was Jack Robbins (1894-1959) who was head of the studio’s publishing company at ‘MGM’ who saw commercial potential in the song, and persuaded Hart to re-write it again, but this time with romantic lyrics. ‘Blue Moon’ is one of the most covered songs in this ‘1000 Best Songs’ list, with dozens of versions recorded by artists of many differing genres over the decades. It is also a favourite for use in several films, and television programmes.

The Marcels were formed in 1959, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, taking their name from a popular hair style of the day, the ‘marcel wave.’ They were a ‘Doo-Wop’ group who were known for recording popular old songs in the new ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ style. They remained active until 1962, before reforming in 1972 to tour and record, with changes in band membership they continued to perform until into the 2010’s. The original quintet who also performed on ‘Blue Moon’ were made up of Cornelius Harp, (1940-2013) Fred Johnson, (1942-2022) Gene Bricker, (1938-1983) Ron Mundy, (1940-2017) and Richard Knauss, in total there were 12 different members come and go. The discography of The Marcels includes one studio Album also called ‘Blue Moon,’ from July 1961, and 21 singles released between 1961-1982. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, two of their singles have reached the top 40, ‘Blue Moon,’ (1961-Number 1 ) and ‘Heartaches,’ (1961-Number 7) while in the UK, The Marcels are true ‘One Hit Wonders,’ with ‘Blue Moon’ reaching Number 1, and following that they never achieved another top 40 single.

‘Blue Moon’ was recorded by The Marcels at the request of Stuart Phillips, who was in the employment of ‘Colpix Records’ at the time. It was Phillips who suggested the introduction to the song, (‘Bomp-baba-bomp,’ and ‘dip-da-dip-da-dip’) which had been an excerpt of an original song that The Marcels had previously had in its act, Phillips had felt that the song needed a little something extra. ‘The Marcels recording of ‘Blue Moon’ was co-produced by Danny Winchell, (1926-2011) and Stuart Phillips, who was born on September 9th, 1929. Stuart Phillips is best remembered for providing the incidental music for numerous films and television programmes, including writing the themes for the American science fiction television series ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ and the American action crime drama television series ‘Knight Rider'(see also best songs 966 and 675.) He also scored the music for 29 films between 1961-2004, including ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,’ (1979) and he scored the music for 54 of the 58 ‘The Monkees’ (see also best songs 121) American television musical sitcoms, between 1966-1968.

‘Blue Moon was originally written in 1934 by Richard Rodgers, (1902-1979) (see also best songs 842 and 60) who wrote the music, and Lorenz Hart, who wrote the lyrics. Lorenz Hart was born Lorenz Milton Hart, on May 2nd, 1895, in New York City, United States, he died on November 22nd, 1943, from pneumonia, at the age of 48. With Richard Rodgers whom he first met in 1919, the pair wrote the music and lyrics for 26 Broadway musicals, their most famous compositions include The Lady is a Tramp,’ from ‘Babes in Arms’ (1937) Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,’ from Pal Joey,’ (1940) and ‘My Funny Valentine,’ from ‘Babes in Arms’ (1937.) Lorenz Hart had a very troubled life, he was an alcoholic, and also had trouble coming to terms with his sexuality. He lived with his widowed mother Frieda, and would sometimes disappear for weeks at a time on drinking binges. Hart experienced depression, and his erratic behaviour was often the cause of friction between him and Richard Rodgers, that led to Rodgers teaming with the lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (see also best songs 842-687-82 and 60) in 1942. In April 1943, Hart’s mother Frieda died, which it is said left him devastated, from which he did not recover emotionally. The American writer Robert Gottlieb (1931-2023) wrote, ‘There were rumours about Larry (Lorenz Hart) while he was alive, but nothing about his sexuality ever appeared in print. One night in Los Angeles, in 1933, someone from a Hollywood trade magazine approached Dick (Richard Rogers) at a party and said, ‘I’ve got to ask you something about Larry … Is it true Larry’s a fairy?’ Dick grabbed him by the collar, (biographer Gary Marmorstein recounts) and said, ‘I never heard that. And if you print it, I’ll kill you.”

So what is a Blue Moon? About every 2.7 years, there are four full moons in a season instead of three – the third moon, not the fourth, is dubbed the blue moon. The rarity of the occasion inspired the old saying ‘once in a blue moon.’ What Lorenz Hart was suggesting in his lyrics was that finding true love was very rare, perhaps a once in a lifetime chance, in fact once in a blue moon.

‘And then there suddenly appeared before me the only one my arms will hold. I heard somebody whisper ‘please adore me,’ and when I looked the moon had turned to gold.’