Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Blue Moon

Thanks to the blue moon,
Lonely man gets the woman
He was hoping for.

This is Bob Dylan's rendition of Elvis Presley's 1956 version (or Frank Sinatra's version?) of a 1934 song by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The original version of the song was meant for Jean Harlow to sing in the movie "Hollywood Party," expressing her hope to become a movie star. The song went unused in the film, and was copyrighted as "Prayer (Oh lord, make me a movie star)." I like its repeated use in the John Landis film, "An American Werewolf in London."

The song, as Bob recorded it for 1970's "Self Portrait," features a guy wishing on a blue moon to send him someone to fall in love with.

Blue moon You knew just what I was there for You heard me saying a prayer for Someone I really could care for 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 to the moon it turned to gold Blue moon Now I'm no longer alone Without a dream in my heart Without a love of my own

Here's a studio session from the time with Bob giving it a whirl. It's not what you hear on the final "Self Portrait" album.



1 comment:

  1. Hello there, Thank you for posting this analysis of a song from Bob Dylan's Music Box: http://thebobdylanproject.com/Song/id/79/Blue-Moon Come and join us inside and listen to every song composed, recorded or performed by Bob Dylan, plus all the great covers streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and SoundCloud plus so much more... including this link.

    ReplyDelete