SONG OF THE DAY
“I Wished On The Moon” by Billie Holiday (Songs for Distingué Lovers, Verve Records, 1957). Composed by Ralph Rainger with lyrics by Dorothy Parker.
WHY TODAY?
While listening to NPR last night, I heard a recording of Stephanie Nakasian doing a cover of this song. She was able to really capture Billie’s voice, and, after the song was finished, the interviewer on NPR actually noted just that. Nakasian, of course, doesn’t like to be thought of as a copycat voice, but I think it was more like channeling the spirits of the greats than mere copying. However, I have to go back to the original when it comes to what I really love—I like Billie’s tempo better, it resonates stronger with me.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “I Wished on the Moon” is a song composed by Ralph Rainger, with lyrics by Dorothy Parker, for the The Big Broadcast of 1936. It was introduced by Bing Crosby.
– Ella Fitzgerald released a version with Gordon Jenkins on Decca Records in 1955.
– Mel Tormé released a version on his 1960 album Swingin’ On the Moon.
– Art Pepper’s album Intensity (1960) included a cover version.
– Frank Sinatra recorded a version in 1966 for his album Moonlight Sinatra.
– Tony Bennett finally got down to laying down this track in 1992 on his album Perfectly Frank and again in his 1997 album Tony Bennett on Holiday.
– Songs for Distingué Lovers was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles from January 3 to January 9, 1957, and produced by Norman Granz.
– Granz and Holiday chose familiar items from the Great American Songbook of classic pop for the album, Holiday singing in the context comfortable for her, that of a small jazz band.
– The original album consisted of six standards, five of which by songwriters whom would be categorically tackled by Ella Fitzgerald on her Songbooks series.
– The sessions reunited Holiday with trumpeter Harry Edison and saxophonist Ben Webster, both of whom the singer had worked with during the 1930 and 1940s, Edison as a member of the Count Basie Orchestra during her brief stay as the band’s girl singer, and Webster from the recordings under her own name for Vocalion Records and Okeh Records.
– A ten-inch long-playing album could hold approximately seventeen minutes of music per side, making this album well within the standard parameters for running time.
– Songs for Distingué Lovers was reissued by Verve Records on October 28, 1997, as part of its Master Edition series, remastering using 20-bit technology with six bonus tracks.
– The extra tracks were all recorded at the same sessions, and taken from other Holiday ten-inch albums of the late 1950s on Verve. “I Wished on the Moon” and “Love Is Here to Stay” were from MGV 8329, All or Nothing At All, and the other four from MGV 8197, Body and Soul.
Side one
- “Day In, Day Out” (Johnny Mercer, Rube Bloom)  – 6:47
- “A Foggy Day” (Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)  – 4:40
- “Stars Fell on Alabama” (Frank Perkins, Mitchell Parish)  – 4:28
[edit]Side two
- “One for My Baby” (Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen)  – 5:39
- “Just One of Those Things” (Cole Porter)  – 5:31
- “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)  – 5:59
[edit]Bonus tracks 1997 reissue
- “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” (Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)  – 3:23
- “I Wished on the Moon” (Dorothy Parker, Ralph Rainger)  – 3:25
- “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)  – 4:10
- “Body and Soul” (Johnny Green, Frank Eyton, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour)  – 6:22
- “Moonlight in Vermont” (Karl Suessdorf, John Blackburn)  – 3:49
- “Love Is Here to Stay” (Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)  – 3:41