June Moon: It’s Only a Paper Moon

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Well, I told you he’d be here. And here he is. I’m in the Indiana Chuy’s, ready to head west this time for a little jaunt. I’ve got my eye on a couple of places, and let’s see if I make it! Meanwhile, here he is! It’s Only a Paper Moon - Jim Reeves The Great Magoo. Hardly “great.” It’s a Broadway play that lasted all of eleven performances in 1933. But it DID give the world this song. (No, Mr. Magoo wasn’t named after it…or not that I can tell. The play was such a flop that it wouldn’t be likely.). After the flop of a play, the song appeared in a movie called Take a Chance. Short story shorter: the song did a WHOLE lot better than any of the things that featured it back then. From Ella to Sinatra to Tormé to Django, it’s a standard. The late James Darren even did it in an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Additionally, after the song became famous it started appearing in better movies such as Paper Moon and A League of Their Own. Jim Reeves had recorded a version in December 1963 (oh what a night ), but it wasn’t released on a quasi-concept album of moon and rose songs a year after his death. Oh, and for NJ Chic: this has a “six degrees of Jimmy Buffett” connection. Kenneth Buttrey, who played drums on Buffett’s smash album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, played drums on this song. You’re welcome. Slope. It’s Only a Paper Moon Written by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose Recorded by Jim Reeves From Moonlight and Roses, 1965 It’s a Barnum and Bailey world: