Fly Me to the Moon

Fly Me to the Moon is a jazz and popular-music standard written entirely by American songwriter Bart Howard in 1954. Howard originally called the song In Other Words. The opening phrase “Fly me to the moon” became so closely identified with the piece that, at the suggestion of singer Peggy Lee, Howard officially changed the title to Fly Me to the Moon in 1963.

The song was introduced in New York cabaret and received its first commercial recording from Kaye Ballard in April 1954. Her recording appeared as the B-side of Lazy Afternoon. During the following years the song was recorded by numerous jazz and cabaret singers, and Peggy Lee helped bring it to a much wider audience through her performances around 1960.

Musical character:
Howard originally conceived Fly Me to the Moon as a waltz. The tune later became much more widely known as a medium-tempo 4/4 swing standard. Its 32-bar structure, flowing cycle of fifths and clear melodic line make it particularly natural for jazz improvisation. The harmony moves smoothly through related minor and major tonal areas, producing a strong sense of forward motion without becoming harmonically complicated.

Connection to Manouche Jazz:
There is no historical Django Reinhardt recording of the song: Fly Me to the Moon was written in 1954, after Django’s death in 1953. Its regular 32-bar form, strong melody and flowing swing harmony, however, make it very suitable for modern Manouche Jazz interpretation, where it can be treated much like the older American standards that Django and the Hot Club adapted during the 1930s and 1940s.

Interesting facts:

• Bart Howard wrote both the music and the lyrics.
• The original title was In Other Words.
• Kaye Ballard made the first commercial recording in April 1954.
• The song was originally conceived as a waltz in 3/4, rather than the 4/4 swing version most musicians know today.
• Peggy Lee helped popularize the song and encouraged Howard to officially rename it Fly Me to the Moon in 1963.
• Joe Harnell recorded a successful bossa nova instrumental version in 1962; it reached the Billboard charts and won a Grammy Award.
• Frank Sinatra recorded his famous version in 1964 with Count Basie’s orchestra, arranged by Quincy Jones. Jones transformed the song into an energetic 4/4 swinger.
• Sinatra’s recording became closely associated with the American space program. During Apollo 10, a Sinatra recording of the song was transmitted from the spacecraft while it was in lunar orbit.
• Apollo 11 astronauts also carried Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon among the music selected for their onboard cassette tapes.
• In 1999, the Songwriters Hall of Fame gave the composition its Towering Song Award.
• Kaye Ballard’s original 1954 recording was selected for the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2026.

Fly Me to the Moon began as an intimate New York cabaret waltz and gradually became one of the most recognizable jazz standards in the world. Its evolution from Kaye Ballard’s restrained 1954 recording through bossa nova to the explosive Sinatra–Basie swing version also shows how successfully Bart Howard’s melody could survive completely different rhythmic treatments.