Blue Moon was composed in 1933 by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart under the title Make Me A Star. It was to have been sung by Jean Harlow in the film
Hollywood Revue of 1933, but that project was scrapped. Hart changed the lyrics and retitled the song The Bad In Every man. Shirley Ross sang it in the
1934 film Manhattan Melodrama. The lyrics and title were later changed to Blue Moon. Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Band had a bit hit in 1935 with Blue
Moon (Decca 312), as did Benny Goodman with vocal by Helen Ward (Columbia 3003). Billy Eckstein had a million-seller with the song (MGM 10311) in 1948.
Mel Tormé sang Blue Moon in the 1948 movie biography of Rodgers and Hart, Words And Music. His record (Capitol 15428) was popular that year. The Marcels
also had a million-seller with the song (Colpix 186), in 1961. Their recording topped the charts in the United States and England. The Marcels' arrangement
was based on Zoom Zoom Zoom, a 1957 release by the Collegians on the Wimbley label. In 1980, producer John Landis used a version of Blue Moon by Bobby
Vinton as the opening theme to his film An American Werewolf in London. The Marcels' version was heard over the closing credits.
Elvis recorded Blue Moon at Sun Records on July 6, 1954. The drummer on the recording was Buddy Cunningham. It was one of the several songs he sang on
the Louisiana Hayride from 1954 to 1956. Elvis's 1956 single release of Blue Moon had a 17-week stay on Billboard's Top 100 chart, peaking at #55. A
short instrumental rendition of Blue Moon was heard in Elvis's 1964 film, Viva Las Vegas.
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