Fly Me to the Moon

In 1954, in response to his publisher’s request for a “simple” song, Bart Howard wrote a cabaret-style ballad in waltz time that he called, “In Other Words.” The publisher urged him to change the lyrics a bit, for instance, substituting “take me to the moon” for “fly me to the moon.” Howard wouldn’t budge. When asked about it decades later, he replied, “It took me twenty years to learn how to write a song in twenty minutes.” He did apparently change his mind about the waltz time. I’ve heard it in both 3/4 and 4/4 time. Trust me; 4/4 is far more cool. This song, especially Frank Sinatra’s 1964 recording, was closely associated with NASA’s Apollo space program. Buzz Aldrin played this version of “Fly Me to the Moon” on a portable cassette player on July 20, 1969, making it the first music heard on the moon.