It's Only a Paper Moon

1933 recording by Paul Whiteman on Victor featuring Bunny Berigan on trumpet and Peggy Healy on vocals.

"It's Only a Paper Moon" is a popular song published in 1933, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E. Y. Harburg and Billy Rose.^[1] It was written originally for an unsuccessful Broadway play called The Great Magoo, set in Coney Island. It was subsequently used in the movie Take a Chance in 1933. Paul Whiteman recorded a successful hit version sung by Peggy Healey released in 1933 featuring Bunny Berigan on trumpet. But its lasting fame stems from recordings by popular artists during the last years of World War II, when versions by Ella Fitzgerald and the Nat King Cole Trio became popular. It has endured as a vehicle for improvisation by many jazz musicians.

Recorded versions

Chet Baker[1] Count Basie Tony Bennett Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers[1] Les Brown Dave Brubeck Rosemary Clooney Nat King Cole Trio[1] Bing Crosby Bobby Darin Miles Davis[1]

Cliff Edwards[1] Ella Fitzgerald with The Ink Spots[1] Erroll Garner Dizzy Gillespie Benny Goodman[1] Dexter Gordon Stephane Grappelli[1] Lionel Hampton[1] Coleman Hawkins Woody Herman Earl Hines The Kenny Drew Trio[1]

Gene Krupa Red Nichols Les Paul Trio Oscar Peterson[1] Django Reinhardt[1] Buddy Rich George Shearing Frank Sinatra Art Tatum Rufus Wainwright Paul Whiteman Orchestra[1]

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards

References

1. "It's Only a Paper Moon". jazzstandards.com. 2005. Retrieved November 8, 2016.

External links

• Story of the song
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics