Fly Me To The Moon

PROFILE
Composer and Lyricist	Bart Howard
Year Written	1954
About Fly Me To The Moon
“Fly Me To The Moon” was originally titled “In Other Words,” but the song was not doing that well, in spite of several recordings. In 1962, Howard renamed the song to “Fly Me To The Moon,” and the song began to catch on. Tony Bennett’s 1965 recording for If I Ruled The World was a big hit for Bennett. There have been many recordings of the song, including those by Frank Sinatra, Kaye Ballard and many more. However, Bart Howard told Bennett that his 1965 recording was “the definitive performance of this song.”

Lyrics

Poets often use many words
To say a simple thing
It takes thought and time and rhyme
To make a poem sing
With music and words I’ve been playing
For you I’ve written a song
To make sure you know what I’m saying
I’ll translate as I go along

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words
Hold my hand
In other words
Darlin kiss me

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words
Please be true
In other words
I love you..

Session / Album Information

1965

“Fly Me To The Moon” was recorded on February 18, 1965 and released in 1965 on the album If I Ruled the World: Songs for the Jet Set. It was arranged by Don Costa.

This recording released on:

1965: CL 2343 — If I Ruled The World (Songs For The Jet Set)
1965: CS 9143 — If I Ruled The World (Songs For The Jet Set)
1965: Columbia 45: 4-43331
1965: CBS EP: EP 6066 — When Joanna Loved Me
1969: CBS LP 12″: 63612 — Greatest Hits, Volume II (UK)
1969: Columbia LP 12″: CS 9814 — Tony Bennett’s Greatest Hits, Vol. IV
1974: Embassy LP 12″: EMB 31058 — If I Ruled the World [UK]
1990: Columbia CD: SOY21552 — The Good Life
1991: Columbia CD: C4K 46843 — Forty Years – The Artistry Of Tony Bennett
1993: CBS/Sony CD: SRCS-6641 — Forty Years: The Artistry Of Tony Bennett
1997: CK 65317 — If I Ruled The World (Songs For The Jet Set)
1999: Sony International CD: 91207 — The Essential Tony Bennett: A Retrospective
2002: Columbia/Legacy CD: 86634 — The Essential Tony Bennett
2003: Globo/Columbia CD: 0030 2 — All The Best [Brazil]
2003: Liberty CD: 281926 — The Best of the Definitive American Songbook, Vol. 1
2003: Liberty CD: 92819 — The Best of the Definitive American Songbook, Vol. 1
2004: Columbia/Legacy CD: C5K 92784 — Fifty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett
2005: Collectables CD: CCL8053 — The Good Life
2006: RPM/Columbia/Legacy CD: 84779 — Tony Bennett’s Greatest Hits Of The ’60s
2008: Columbia/RPM/Legacy CD: 731397 — The Essential Tony Bennett [Limited Edition 3.0]
2011: Disc #31 in The Tony Bennett Complete Collection (88697874602-JK30) If I Ruled The World: Songs for the Jet Set

1994

“Fly Me To The Moon” was recorded and televised live on April 12, 1994 on MTV. The MTV Unplugged album was released in June of that year. The songs from the televised concert were arranged by Tony Bennett and the Ralph Sharon Trio.

Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) - Live Version
Listen to Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) - Live Version on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1994