"Fly Me To The Moon" played by Beegie Adair Trio

Kaye Ballard circa late 1950s.

       "Fly Me to the Moon", originally titled "In Other Words", is a popular song written in 1954 by Bart Howard. Kaye Ballard made the first recording of the song in 1954. Since then it has become a frequently recorded jazz standard often featured in popular culture. Frank Sinatra's 1964 version was closely associated with the Apollo missions to the Moon.

       In 1999, the US-based Songwriters Hall of Fame recognized the importance of "Fly Me to the Moon" by inducting it as a "Towering Song" which is an award "...presented each year to the creators of an individual song that has influenced our culture in a unique way over many years.”

       In 1954, when writing the song which would become famous as "Fly Me to the Moon", Bart Howard had been pursuing a career in music for more than 20 years. He played piano to accompany cabaret singers but also wrote songs with Cole Porter, his idol, in mind. In response to a publisher's request for a simpler song, Bart Howard wrote a cabaret ballad in waltz time which he titled "In Other Words". A publisher tried to make him change some lyrics from "fly me to the moon" to "take me to the moon" but Howard refused to do this. Many years later Howard commented that “... it took me 20 years to find out how to write a song in 20 minutes".

       He used his position as a piano accompanist and presenter at the Blue Angel cabaret venue to promote the song and it was soon introduced in cabaret performances by Felicia Sanders.

       Kaye Ballard made the first commercial recording of "In Other Words". It was released by Decca in April 1954. A brief review published on 8 May 1954 in Billboard said that "In Other Words" was "A love song sung with feeling by Miss Ballard." This recording was released as the flipside of "Lazy Afternoon" which Kaye Ballard was currently performing as star of the stage show The Golden Apple.

       During the next few years jazz and cabaret singers released cover versions of "In Other Words" on EP or LP record albums including Chris Connor, Johnny Mathis, Portia Nelson and Nancy Wilson. Eydie Gormé featured the song on her 1958 album "Eydie In Love" which reached #20 in the Cashbox Album Charts and was nominated for a Grammy award.

Beegie Adair (piano), Roger Spencer (bass), Chris Brown (drums)

• "Fly Me To The Moon" sung by Frank Sinatra
• Diana Krall sings "Fly Me To The Moon"
• "Fly Me to The Moon" sung by Diana Panton - very contemporary 
• The classic Sarah Vaughan version of "Fly Me To The Moon"