Welcome to Week 10 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here.
Song: “Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)”
Composer: Bart Howard
Lyricist: Bart Howard
Form: A B A B’
Standard Key: C Major
“Fly Me To The Moon” is far and away the most consistently recognized jazz standard among the high school students I meet. I’m not sure exactly what accounts for that, but Bart Howard somehow was able to compose a standard in the 1950’s that has stood the test of time. Like many standards, it is flexible – you will hear swing versions at various tempos, but also Latin versions and probably rock versions as well. This despite Howard not even knowing the ending point of his own song – he originally titled it “In Other Words” and wrote it first as a waltz. It goes to show that the interpreters and audience of jazz standards can have a significant influence on how the piece enters the culture, often quite differently from the composer’s intent. Unlike many serial composers of jazz standards, Howard’s creative output included many songs for pop singers of the 1950’s and ’60s, but only one real hit, this song.
Definitive Version: Frank Sinatra (1964 from It Might As Well Be Swing) – featuring Count Basie & his Orchestra
Form: Intro | Chorus | Instrumental Half-Chorus | Vocal Half-Chorus
Feel: Medium Swing (116 bpm)
Key: C Major
Instrumentation: Big Band (with doublings)
Sinatra made numerous recordings of this song, including his celebrated live version from 1966 (same arrangement & band) and a late-life duet with Antonio Carlos Jobim. But it’s the studio version from 1964, featuring Basie’s swinging band and Quincy Jones’ brilliant arrangements that really captures the soul of the tune. Witness this: up until this recording, most versions had stayed in the original waltz that Howard envisioned. The version that appears in fake books now is based on the Sinatra/Basie/Jones interpretation cemented in 1964. While the live version has more of the ring-a-ding entertainer that is part of Sinatra’s charm, this studio version is a little stronger in terms of interpretation, and a little clearer in terms of the recording production. This is a good example of Sinatra’s interpretative preferences: simple, straightforward, and swinging. This version ended up becoming a sort of unofficial theme song for the NASA Apollo missions of the late-1960’s.
Also Recommended:
- Willie Nelson (2018) Swinging version, with Willie’s knack for phrasing in a really interesting way.
- Sarah Vaughan (1963, from Sassy Swings the Tivoli) – A live recording and a great demonstration of the tune as a ballad.
- Diana Krall (2002 from Live in Paris) – Krall swings and so does the band.
- Astrud Gilberto (1965, from The Shadow of Your Smile) – Bossa nova interpretation from Astrud, best known for her singing on Stan Getz’s bossa album.
- Nancy Wilson (1960, from Like in Love) – slowly swinging, with her exquisite taste and a few slick lyrical improvements.