Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) – Tony Bennett | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop(#84) and Adult Contemporary(#17) ; 1965

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

As a teen, Bart Howard played piano for dance marathons, then hotel bands, and – ultimately – vaudeville, where he backed up Siamese twins. In the early 1950’s Bart became the musical director of Manhattan’s famous Blue Angel nightclub.

By now he was also an accomplished songwriter, and, in 1954, penned his most famous work, In Other Words. That year New York-born Tony Bennett was also riding high as one of America’s top vocalists, on the strength of hits such as Rags To Riches and Stranger In Paradise.

In 1962, Bennett’s star was shining brighter than ever. He’d made I Left My Heart In San Francisco and I Wanna Be Around contemporary standards. Now Howard’s song was poised for the big time.

Recorded by Joe Harnell in the South American Bossa Nova style, Fly Me To The Moon (as it was now known) became a hot instrumental hit in early 1963, and Bennett recorded the top vocal version.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Composer:

  • Quincy Jones

Lyrics Written by:

  • Bart Howard

Awards:

  • Won Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1962
  • Won Grammy Award for Best Male Solo Vocal Performance in 1962
  • Ranked 23rd on an RIAA/NEA list of the most historically significant Songs of the 20th Century in 2001
  • Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame Towering Song Award in 1999
  • Tony Bennett’s MTV Unplugged won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year in 1995
  • Tony Bennett’s album went platinum and won the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year in 2003
  • Tony Bennett was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001

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Top 100 Songs Of The 1960s

Ed Osborne

Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).