The song “Blue Moon” is a standard in the American songbook, beloved for its melancholic melody and evocative lyrics. But the journey of “Blue Moon” to becoming the iconic tune we know today is a fascinating tale of adaptation and persistence. What many don’t realize is that the famous “Blue Moon Song Lyrics” were actually the fourth set of words written for the same Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart melody.
The story begins in the early 1930s when the legendary songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart were under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Tasked with creating songs for the film “Hollywood Party,” a star-studded screwball comedy, they conceived a tune for a scene featuring Jean Harlow. Imagine a young, innocent Jean Harlow, not as the glamorous star, but as a hopeful actress singing her prayers. This led to the first iteration of the melody, with lyrics titled “Prayer (Oh Lord, make me a movie star).” The lyrics humorously capture the ambition of a starlet: “Oh Lord, if you’re not busy up there,/I ask for help with a prayer/ So please don’t give me the air…”. However, this scene, along with many other ideas for the ambitious “Hollywood Party” film, never made it to the screen. Despite Rodgers and Hart writing around a dozen songs, only a few survived the chaotic production process. This initial version, registered as MGM Song #225 on June 14, 1933, and copyrighted as unpublished on July 10, 1933, perfectly illustrates the often tumultuous experience Rodgers and Hart faced in Hollywood.
The melody, however, was too good to be discarded. In 1934, MGM repurposed the tune for another film, “Manhattan Melodrama,” starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy – famously known as the movie John Dillinger watched before his demise. For this film, Hart penned a second set of lyrics, this time titled “It’s Just That Kind of a Play,” intended as a title song. Title songs weren’t as common then as they would later become, and ultimately, this version was also cut. Registered for copyright as an unpublished work by MGM on March 30, 1934, this second attempt still didn’t bring the melody into the limelight.
Undeterred, Rodgers still believed in the tune’s potential. When “Manhattan Melodrama” needed a nightclub scene number, he once again turned to Hart. A third set of lyrics emerged, this time with a darker theme: “The bad in every man.” Sung by Shirley Ross in the film, this version, while making it to the screen, also failed to become a hit. Sheet music for “The bad in every man” was included in the press kit, suggesting some promotional effort, but the song remained relatively obscure.
It was Jack Robbins, Rodgers & Hart’s publisher, who finally recognized the melody’s hit potential. He urged Hart to write a fourth, more commercially viable lyric. Hart, initially reluctant, eventually conceded. This time, the magic happened. Hart crafted the now-famous “Blue Moon song lyrics,” evoking romance and longing under a “blue moon.” Robbins then strategically placed the song with “Hollywood Hotel,” a popular radio program, using it as their theme. This exposure, coupled with Connie Boswell’s recording for Columbia Records on January 15, 1934, catapulted “Blue Moon” to success. Finally, the fourth time was the charm, transforming a discarded movie tune into a timeless classic. “Blue Moon” went on to feature in numerous MGM films, including “Marx Brothers At The Circus” and “Viva Las Vegas,” cementing its place in popular culture and proving the remarkable journey behind the beloved “blue moon song lyrics.”
