Music Playlist: Songs About The Moon
Published May 25, 2005
Songs About or Inspired By The Moon
The Moon has inspired mankind from the beginning of our existence. Although the word "moon" can represent any natural satellite that orbits a planet, when we talk about "The Moon" we are speaking of the only Earth orbiting celestial body, sometimes called "Luna". The Moon is about 384,500 kilometers (238,930 miles) from the Earth and has a diameter of 3,476 kilometres (2,160 miles).
The fascination with the Moon started long before Pink Floyd. It has been the inspiration for poetry, paintings, songs and even whole religions over the history of man. Every human that's ever lived has looked upon the moon and pondered it, as well as our own existence. Many believe that a 5,000 year old rock carving found at Knowth, Ireland represents the Moon, in which case, it is the earliest depiction yet discovered. Most certainly, songs were sung even then about this mysterious object in the sky.
Some ancient lunar dieties include Selene, Phobe, Artemis, Luna, Diana, Nana, Thoth, Tsuki-yomi and Tecciztecati. There is much folklore associated with the Moon including that it's responsible for insanity. Thus the words "lunatic" or "loony".
Even today, after we have walked on the Moon and know exactly what it is, it continues to be and always will be, a great inspiration to songwriters across the world.
The following playlist contains great songs inspired by the Moon:
Listen to it on Rhapsody by clicking here.
1. Kiko And The Lavender Moon - Los Lobos
2. Moondance - Van Morrison
3. Whole Of The Moon - The Waterboys
4. Moonshadow - Cat Stevens
5. Blue Moon - Frank Sinatra
6. Moon Over Bourbon Street - Sting
7. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
8. Harvest Moon - Neil Young
9. New Moon On Monday - Duran Duran
10. Walking On The Moon - The Police
11. Pink Moon - Nick Drake
12. Yellow Moon - The Neville Brothers
13. Moon - Rusted Root
14. Mr. Moonlight - Clinic
15. Sisters Of The Moon - Fleetwood Mac
16. There's A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon) - The B-52's
17. Moon River - Louis Armstrong
18. Bark At The Moon - Ozzy Osbourne
19. Moon Rise Blues - Lightnin' Hopkins
20. Moon On My Shoulder - Lyle Lovett
21. Red Moon - David Gray
22. Cajun Moon - Ricky Skaggs
23. Havana Moon - Santana
24. Spidery Moon - The Minus 5
25. Climbing To The Moon - Eels
26. Bike Ride To The Moon - The Dukes of Stratosphear
27. Drunk on the Moon - Tom Waits
28. Eclipse - Pink Floyd
Please add missing Moon songs to the comments.
Listen to hundreds of great playlists at the Rhapsody Radish.
- Music Playlist: Songs About The Moon
- Published: May 25, 2005
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock, Music: Bluegrass, Music: Blues, Music: Indie Rock, Music: Jazz, Music: Pop, Music: R&B, Music: Rock, Music: Roots Rock
- Part of a feature: Music Playlist
- Writer: Robert Burke
- Robert Burke's BC Writer page
- Robert Burke's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
- RSS Feeds
- All RSS Feeds (240+)
Comments on this article- Articles in this series
- BC articles by Robert Burke
- Music: Alternative Rock
- Music: Bluegrass
- Music: Blues
- Music: Indie Rock
- Music: Jazz
- Music: Pop
- Music: R&B
- Music: Rock
- Music: Roots Rock
- All Music Articles
- All Review articles
- All BC articles
All BC Comments
Comments
Fly Me to the Moon - Tony Bennett
You missed perhaps the most obvious song about the moon, "Song About the Moon" by Paul Simon, from the criminally underappreciated Hearts and Bones album. It is advice for aspiring songwriters who find themselves stuck. Well, write a song about the moon.
Also, "Moonlight Mile" by the Rolling Stones
ALSO:
Hank Williams - Howling At The Moon
Little Richard -
By The Light Of The Silvery Moon
Bill Monroe - Blue Moon Of Kentucky
Leon Redbone - Shine On Harvest Moon
Jonathan King -
Everyone's Gone To The Moon
Howling Wolf - Coon On The Moon
Moonlight Drive - The Doors... great great tune
Man on the Moon - REM
Fly Me to the Moon was played at my wedding when I took my wife for a spin... nice song.
And let's not forget that it can also be used as a verb.
Here are a couple more Moon songs that
came to mind:
Rolling Stones: Child Of The Moon
Charlie Patton - Moon Going Down
The Cramps - Rock On The Moon
Dr Feelgood & The Interns - Mr Moonlight
(This is where The Beatles got the tune)
Jimi Hendrix Experience- And The Moon
Pulls The Tides Gently,Gently Away
NRBQ - RC Cola & A Moon Pie
Jimmy Reed - The Moon Is Rising
Dead Kennedys - Moon Over Marin
Symarip - Skinhead Moonstomp
Carl Perkins - Look At That Moon
Les Paul & Mary Ford - How High The Moon
Jimmie Rodgers - Mississippi Moon
Television - Marquee Moon
Martin Denny - Moon Over Mankoora
Cramps - Blue Moon Baby
Moon Mullican - Moon's Rock
That's a few more for the lunar list.
Goog God, people, have we really forsaken Starbuck's "Moonlight Feels Right"?
another great theme Robert, thanks!
"Dancing In The Moonlight" by King Harvest... not Van Morrison
"Moonlight on Vermont" by Captain Beefheart. That should break up your Van Morrison romantic revelry.
Van is "Moondance" - King Harvest is "Dancing In the Moonlight"
How about a bit of the old Ludwig Van?
Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight"
Who Killed Mr. Moonlight - Bauhaus
Holiday on the Moon - Love and Rockets
Earth, Sun, Moon - Love and Rockets
That concludes my David J.-related songs.
Black Moon Creeping - The Black Crowes
Bowie - Moonage Dream
Porno for Pyros - Under a Tahitian Moon
Aargghhh!! brain...locked...power...routed...to...trivia...search...all...other...systems........Daisy, daisy, give me your answer true/I'm half crazy------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is also "Moonshine Sonata" by the
group Black Oak Arkansas.
Let me guess, the next list will be on songs about June, and then spoon. Am I right? :)
Noting local showers today, we could start that next list with the Kinks' classic "Rainy Day in June."
Moon Crazy - Blue Oyster Cult
Under a Violet Moon - Blackmore's Night
Shadow of the Moon - Blackmore's Night
Moonchild - Iron Maiden
Some previously mentioned standards with their composers:
Blue Moon - Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart
Fly Me to the Moon - Bart Howard
How High the Moon - Nancy Hamilton/William Lewis
It's Only a Paper Moon - Billy Rose/E.Y. Harburg/Harold Arlen
Moon River - Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer
Moonglow - Will Hudson/Eddie De Lange/Irving Mills
Moonlight In Vermont - J. Blackburn/K. Seussdorf
Old Devil Moon - Burton Lane/E.Y. Harburg
Polka Dots and Moonbeams - Johnny Burke/Jimmy van Heusen
I must second Al on "Song About the Moon" and indeed the entire album of Hearts and Bones. Some of Paul Simon's most evocative poetic imagery is found therein.
"If you want to write a song about the moon
Walk along the craters in the afternoon
When the shadows are deep and the light is alien
And gravity leaps like a knife off the pavement . . ."
In trying to find out whether I'd heard these lyrics correctly (because most of the Web's "lyrics sites" seem to have them wrong), I found an interesting excerpt from an out-of-print book where Simon talks about his songwriting process, which I hope some of you might enjoy.
As the Moon Speaks to the Waves of the Sea --- Captain Beyond
Lunar Sea --- Camel
Mad Man Moon --- Genesis
Claire de Lune- Claude Debussy
Song to the Moon from Rusalka- Antonin Dvorak
Moonlight Sonata (Claro de Luna)- Beethoven
Me and the Moon- Something Corporate
The Killing Moon- Echo and the Bunnymen
Honey and the Moon- Joseph Arthur
How could you all forget the ultimate song about the moon (well sort-of)?
Dean Martin - That's Amore Lyrics
(In Napoli where love is King)
(When boy meets girl)
(Here's what they say)
When the moon hits your eye
Like a big-a pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine
Like you've had too much wine
That's amore
Bells'll ring
Ting-a-ling-a-ling
Ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts'll play
Tippi-tippi-tay
Tippi-tippi-tay
Like a gay tarantella
When the stars make you drool
Joost-a like pasta fazool
That's amore
When you dance down the street
With a cloud at your feet, you're in love
When you walk in a dream
But you know you're not dreamin', signore
'Scusami, but you see
Back in old Napoli, that's amore
(When the moon hits your eye)
(Like a big-a pizza pie, that's amore)
That's amore
(When the world seems to shine
(Like you've had too much wine, that's amore)
That's amore
(Bells will ring)
(Ting-a-ling-a-ling)
(ting-a-ling-a-ling)
(And you'll sing "Vita bella")
(Vita bell-vita bella)
(Hearts will play)
(Tippi-tippi-tay, tippi-tippi-tay)
(Like a gay tarantella)
Lucky fella
When the stars make you drool just like pasta fazool
That's amore (that's amore)
When you dance down the street
With a cloud at your feet, you're in love
When you walk in a dream
But you know you're not dreaming, signore
'Scusami, but you see
Back in old Napoli, that's amore
That is all.
Once in a Very Blue Moon - Nanci Griffith
Moonshadow - Cat Stevens
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Moonlight Mile - Rolling Stones
Help - there was a song in the early nineties the said something like "It's like (putting) (or something like that) on the moon. A female sang it - WHAT was the name of that song?
Essential: "Marquee Moon" by Television--featuring a building-up crescendoing of fantastic and tensely scary guitar interplay between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd ("I remember how the darkness doubled, I recall lightning struck itself/ I was listenin, listenin' to the rain, I was hearin', hearin', something else/ . . . All this time with the Marquee Moon, but just waitin'"
Also: not strictly about the moon, bt Tom Waits has a great line in "Bad Liver and A Broken Heart": "No, the moon ain't romantic, it's intimidating as hell."
(oops, sorry: Marquee Moon previously mentioned by HW Saxton)
hey wait . . . Moonchild was originally recorded by King Crimson . . .
my fave is moonlight sonata. beau beautiful piano solo moon
There's also:
Desert Moon - Dennis DeYoung
HELP!!!
Can anyone send me the lyrics of "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka? (Dvorak) It is without a doubt the most passionate and evocative of all moon songs! English version please!!!
Cheers, Celeste
I can't believe that you forgot...
Shame On The Moon by Bob Segar
What about Moonlight Shadow - Mike Oldfield
"When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" sung by Kate Smith
Moon Is Up - Rolling Stones
One of my favourite songs ever the Killing Moon - by Echo and the Bunnymen.
Also: It's only a paper moon - Ella fitzgerald
Moondance is also annother favourite
Were these mentioned?
Sail Along Silvery moon.
On Moonlight Bay
Blue Moon
It's Only a Paper Moon
Everyone's Gone to the Moon
By the Light of The Silvery Moon
Moon over Miami
"Sister Moon" by Sting
How about To The Moon And Back by Savage Garden?
Standing On The Moon-Grateful Dead
"I'd rather be with you..."
Monkeys on the Moon - by the Sopwith Camel
The Moon-Cat Power
the most beautiful moon song ive heard
What about Sonata Arctica's "Full Moon" or The Cult "Brother Wolf, Sister Moon"
Joe Satriani - Big Bad Moon
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/30113)
There are soooooooo many songs about the
moon and/or that use it in song titles.
Here's a few more to add to the list:
Link Wray -Other Side Of The Moon
C.C.R. - Bad Moon Rising
Joe Simon - Moonwalk
Bobby Womack - Fly Me To The Moon
Joe Ely - Cornbread Moon
Elton John - Bad Side Of The Moon
Bo Diddley - Moonman
The Capri's - There's A Moon Out Tonight
That's a few more anyway. I can think of
many more but don't see a need to keep
listing them honestly.