well that just goes to show you what a moon can do
August 30, 2012 6:28 PM   Subscribe

Tomorrow, Friday, August 31, 2012, you'll have that rare chance to do something "once in a blue moon". Perhaps a little moon music will be in order? Like, say... Blue Moon? DUH! Or, getting a bit more regional, Blue Moon of Kentucky? Then there's the other colors: Kiko and the Lavender Moon, Yellow Moon, Pink Moon, Silver Moon and...

Perhaps you'll want to do some Howlin' at the Moon, or a little Moondance. There are a few of us here at Mefi who can enjoy the Moonlight in Vermont and the Moonlight ON Vermont, or perhaps you'd like to join Whitey on the Moon! Or just lazily drift down that ol' Moon River, beneath a Harvest Moon. Now, some say It's Only a Paper Moon, but I don't know about that. And even though the song is catchy as hell, here's hoping it won't be a Bad Moon Rising. But anyway, just remember this important point: There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon). So, Shine On, Harvest Moon, cause it's amazing What a Little Moonlight Can Do.
posted by flapjax at midnite (79 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
my favorite version of Moon River is by Kid Koala
posted by mannequito at 6:34 PM on August 30, 2012 [3 favorites]


If I was planning to ask flapjax at midnite to marry me, tomorrow would be the day I'd do it.

Why, item, I'm honored!

my favorite version of Moon River is by Kid Koala

More moon song links heartily encouraged!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:36 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Did flapjax just moon us? All of us? The entire commoonity?
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:39 PM on August 30, 2012 [3 favorites]


And for the astrology enthusiasts: "The Full Moon on August 31 is a rare blue moon. This means that we get two full moons in a month, this happens every two or three years. This Blue Moon will be at 8º Pisces on the fixed star Skat in constellation Aquarius and conjunct Chiron. The Blue moon has no astrological significance whatsoever, but like minor planet Eris, it does cause quite a stir. The extra blue moon gives us 13 moons in the course of a year instead of twelve. This complicates matters for monks calculating Christian holidays. So a Blue moon is an oddity, a misfit, and it annoys the pants off monks.. “Unlucky 13”, Ophiuchius the left-out 13th sign, Eris being the uninvited 13th fairy in Sleeping beauty. 13 is always the exiled, the unwanted and the one that doesn’t fit in." (more)
posted by christopherious at 6:40 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


Nanci Griffith - Once In A Very Blue Moon
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:41 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


Man, I saw the Nevilles so many times at Liberty Lunch in the 80's -- it seems like they came through every 3 or 4 months for a while, there. When the album Yellow Moon came out, I already knew that song pretty well, and it's always been a favorite. I had a girlfriend that didn't come home sometimes back then, so it was kinda personal. Saw John Hiatt there too around the same time, also an incredible show. Haven't seen the Neville Bros in some years now, so that really took me back.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:41 PM on August 30, 2012


But tomorrow was already special.
posted by ceribus peribus at 6:42 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


But don't drink a Blue Moon because that beer is shit.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:45 PM on August 30, 2012 [5 favorites]


Matthew Sweet's Smog Moon is maybe my favorite moon song.
posted by mintcake! at 6:46 PM on August 30, 2012


Moonlight Feels Right was the one hit for a one-hit-wonder band with a name we now associate with coffee and battlestars... (which is why its title is the url of the band's website) ...while claiming to be "70s synth-pop at its finest", I think of it more as one of the creepiest songs of the decade, if only for the vocalist's strange little laughs at the end of each verse...
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:53 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's blue because of Neil Armstrong
posted by Renoroc at 6:57 PM on August 30, 2012 [9 favorites]


Oh hey: Moon Boots by the Orlando Riva Sound. Produced by Tom Moulton!
posted by mintcake! at 6:59 PM on August 30, 2012


Great post ... but there's two harvest moons, yet no Harvest Moon

and where's the killing moon? the hunter's moon? the mad man moon?
posted by philip-random at 7:01 PM on August 30, 2012


Canada's classic party band Max Webster were big fans of the moon:
1975: Coming Off the Moon
1977: In Context of the Moon
1978: Beyond the Moon
posted by rocket88 at 7:04 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


and hey... no musical love here for Keith Moon?
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:04 PM on August 30, 2012


I can't believe I'm the first person to do this, but here's my favorite moon, courtesy of Television.
posted by mollweide at 7:10 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


How about a little Tuxedomoon?
posted by trip and a half at 7:10 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


And how could I forget the awesome See You on the Moon by Great Lake Swimmers?
posted by rocket88 at 7:13 PM on August 30, 2012


...and (I can't believe I'm the first person to do this) one for Neil Armstrong (just don't play it in front of Buzz Aldren - he'll punch you out)
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:14 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


How High the Moon (24 tracks!)
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:15 PM on August 30, 2012


Gypsy Moon.
posted by cog_nate at 7:16 PM on August 30, 2012


WE LIKE THE MOON
posted by moonmilk at 7:22 PM on August 30, 2012 [3 favorites]


Moonlight, you say?

It's not a moondance, but King Harvest gives us Dancing in the Moonlight

The Bonzo Dog Band brings you Tubas in the Moonlight

and that "Pop Muzik" guy M does "Moonlight and Muzak".
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:24 PM on August 30, 2012


Spanish Moon
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:26 PM on August 30, 2012


in the spirit of Equal Time... Mr. Sun Mr. Moon
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:27 PM on August 30, 2012


rocket88 - bless you for bringing Max to the table.
posted by davebush at 7:27 PM on August 30, 2012


No love for The Killing Moon?
posted by jonp72 at 7:28 PM on August 30, 2012


For those you feeling a lunar imperative, You Will Go To The Moon!
posted by mollweide at 7:29 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Another Blue Moon for your consideration.
posted by Jaymzifer at 7:31 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


...and where's the Chairman of the Board? Here's Frank with Fly Me to the Moon.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:33 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Brother Sun, Sister Moon
posted by crunchland at 7:33 PM on August 30, 2012


M-O-O-N!
posted by mannequito at 7:36 PM on August 30, 2012


Moonies.
posted by scratch at 7:36 PM on August 30, 2012


...and don't forget Grapefruit Moon
posted by Jaymzifer at 7:37 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]




Luna negra
posted by dr. boludo at 7:41 PM on August 30, 2012


Dar Williams — Calling the Moon

Or maybe Moon Shadow Cat Stevens
posted by cccorlew at 7:44 PM on August 30, 2012


Nice. One of my favorite songs ever since I heard it on the public radio here in Austin - Shinyribs - Who Built the Moon?

Includes possibly true Buzz Aldrin quote
posted by hap_hazard at 7:47 PM on August 30, 2012


Moonlight Feels Right was the one hit for a one-hit-wonder band with a name we now associate with coffee and battlestars... (which is why its title is the url of the band's website) ...while claiming to be "70s synth-pop at its finest", I think of it more as one of the creepiest songs of the decade, if only for the vocalist's strange little laughs at the end of each verse..

The synth solo in that song is nutty. It's a really Not Good Song. But if you want that Regal Beagle Jack Tripper vibe, put that on with the Pina Colada Song and you're set.
posted by emjaybee at 7:57 PM on August 30, 2012


Is this the thread on Metafilter where I out myself as a semi-closeted partial-Deadhead? Yes, I guess it is. Standing on the Moon, Oakland 12/6/89

Always thought it was one of the more personal Jerry songs. Bonus: the Big Man, for some reason.
posted by hap_hazard at 8:02 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Somebody call The Police for forgetting Walking on the Moon.

And what about the awesomest song, Marquee Moon, by Television?

And how about the unseen side of the moon, The Dark Side of the Moon?
posted by ashbury at 8:03 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Dark Side of the Moon full album link.
posted by ashbury at 8:05 PM on August 30, 2012


"The August 31 Blue Moon will not be blue in color. This photo was created using special filters. This August 2012 Blue Moon will be called Blue because it is the second full moon of a month."
posted by monospace at 8:24 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Stephen Merritt advises: Save A Secret For The Moon
(One of my favourite Magnetic Fields songs)
posted by Flashman at 8:26 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Pina Colada Song? I've been writting in defense of Rupert Holmes for years, even violating the spirit of a web feature on "Guilty Pleasures" I got PAID for to do so (scroll down).

The marvelous Mary Fahl of October Project tried a little solo project lately in which she covered the entire Dark Side of the Moon album (here's "Eclipse") which was sadly less successful than it should've been.

And here's my favorite under-recognized musical performer who does NOT post to MetafilterMusic, the unfamiliar Vance Gilbert with Unfamiliar Moon. (Vance previously seen here)
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:27 PM on August 30, 2012


A much, much more gorgeous Silver Moon.
posted by vers at 8:27 PM on August 30, 2012


Captain Beyond says: '...jump on a moonbeam and ride...'.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:45 PM on August 30, 2012


So, we just passed over the most beautiful Blue Moon song of all by Big Star (the demo being the better version)? And maybe this cover by His Name is Alive, which is also great or Jeff Tweedy at Primavera Sound.
posted by Luminiferous Ether at 8:57 PM on August 30, 2012 [2 favorites]


What? No love for Mel Torme's "Swingin' on the Moon"? The swinginest moon album of all? The cover ALONE!

Every time I think I know you people...
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:18 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]


Tomorrow is a blue moon, and August is the month of the corn. If I don't hear some wolves cry I'll be really disappointed.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:25 PM on August 30, 2012


It doesn't have moon in the title, but my favourite moon song is and always will be "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" by Jethro Tull.

(Michael Collins was the other Apollo 11 astronaut, who was relegated to the orbiter while Armstrong and Aldrin got to walk around on the surface and be famous historical figures and everything.)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:26 PM on August 30, 2012


If only his name had been Tom. Then he would have been famous.
posted by crunchland at 9:38 PM on August 30, 2012


There are actually many famous Michael Collinses -- so many that Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut, is buried way, way down in the "other" section of the Wikipedia disambiguation.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:45 PM on August 30, 2012


There was a movement after Apollo 11 to rename the Tom Collins drink after Michael Collins, but it never got off the ground. (I regret nothing)
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:47 PM on August 30, 2012


I loved Walt Mink's Pink Moon. I think it was actually a couple of years before I realized it was a cover.
posted by Flashman at 9:55 PM on August 30, 2012


Look out, it might be a Black Moon.
posted by egypturnash at 10:01 PM on August 30, 2012


Luna from Tom Petty and the HB's first album.
posted by artdrectr at 10:25 PM on August 30, 2012


That's no moon!
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:29 PM on August 30, 2012


Ya want the moon? Let's talk gothic...
Alien Sex Fiend: E.S.T (Trip to the moon)
The Cult: Brother Wolf, Sister Moon.
Bauhaus: Who Killed Mr Moonlight?
Love and Rockets: Holiday on the Moon
Fields of the Nephilim: Moonchild
posted by Zack_Replica at 10:30 PM on August 30, 2012


Tangentially related for anyone interested: this is also a leap lunar month in the Indic lunisolar calendars, which is why all the Indian festivals such as Ganesh Chaturti, Dussehra and Diwali are delayed.
posted by the cydonian at 10:32 PM on August 30, 2012


Oh, man. So many links I haven't listened to, and it's one ay em.

Great post, flapjax!
posted by BlueHorse at 12:20 AM on August 31, 2012


Moonlight, Music and You
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:09 AM on August 31, 2012


When you do something really well, but no one's paying attention, that a Circus on the Moon, which is a great Bruce Hornsby song, but I can't find it on youtube, which makes for a Sad Moon, and Bruce is a Deadhead doncha know and he covered Standing on the Moon.
posted by tommyD at 3:48 AM on August 31, 2012


Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) - Ramones

Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones
posted by Sailormom at 4:36 AM on August 31, 2012


A very odd trailer for one of my favorite light fluffy 1950s comedies, The Moon Is Blue.
posted by JanetLand at 4:48 AM on August 31, 2012


Mr. Moonlight
Mr. Moonlight
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:31 AM on August 31, 2012


Moonage Daydream - David Bowie
posted by Sailormom at 6:00 AM on August 31, 2012


What, no Moondog?

Leslie Feist recorded My Moon, My Man.

Porno for Pyros did Tahitian Moon.

Enjoy Dr. Samuel Hoffman's theremin playing on Moon Moods by Les Baxter & His Orchestra.

I've always liked Donald Fagan's Countermoon.

Then there's I'll Shoot the Moon by Tom Waits.

And Destination Moon by They Might Be Giants.

Or Hot Rod Honeymoon from Jeff Beck.

Perhaps you'd like a Phone call from the Moon from Adrian Belew. See also by Mr. Belew: Man in the Moon.

I think my personal favorite is Man on the Moon (not the REM one, the Sugar one.)
posted by usonian at 6:19 AM on August 31, 2012


Magnetic Fields were mentioned, but not "You and Me and the Moon" it seems.

Gotta go with Television and Big Star/HNIA and Tuxedomoon for this one though.
posted by ifjuly at 6:26 AM on August 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


And aside from the Big Star cover, HNIA also does a glorious, noisy, messy mash of "Meet Me By Moonlight, Alone."
posted by ifjuly at 6:28 AM on August 31, 2012


Wow. Unless it's hidden somewhere I'm not clicking, I'm surprised this is missing 10,000 Maniacs "Back O' the Moon."
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:01 AM on August 31, 2012


I'll be celebrating and enjoying it tonight with everyone else (any excuse for a party!), but once I've loosened the screws at the back of the tongue I'm sure to bore at least one acquaintance with this bit of pedantry:

A Blue Moon was (is!) the 3rd moon in a season with 4 full moons until the mid 20th century when a magazine gaffe turned "blue moon is the 2nd full moon in a month" into modern folklore

WaPo sums it up nicely:
Normally there are three full moons in any season, each with a name, such as fruit moon, paschal moon or harvest moon. Since sometimes there are 13 moons in a year, the third moon out of four in a season became the blue moon – a placeholder name -- so that the other moons would keep their rightful place in a seasonal order.

Kelly explains that in a 1946 Sky & Telescope magazine article, amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett (1886–1955) incorrectly assumed how blue moon had been used in the Maine Farmers’ Almanac. Pruett unintentionally mangled the original blue moon definition … and it thus became the second full moon in a given month.
posted by ElGuapo at 10:28 AM on August 31, 2012 [3 favorites]


Oh, and Mignight Moonlight
posted by ElGuapo at 10:41 AM on August 31, 2012


*Midnight*
Damn, I previewed and everything
posted by ElGuapo at 10:44 AM on August 31, 2012


New Moon On Monday - Duran Duran
posted by Sailormom at 2:57 PM on August 31, 2012


THIS is how you do it...
posted by stonesy at 5:13 PM on August 31, 2012


Dinah Washington's Destination Moon.
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:03 PM on August 31, 2012


W.H.Auden's Libretto Paul Bunyan

TRIO OF GEESE:

It isn't very often the Conservatives are wrong,
To-morrow normally is only yesterday again,
Society is right in saying nine times out of ten
Respectability's enough to carry one along.

But once in a while the odd thing happens,
Once and a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the Moon turns blue.

(...)

TRIO OF GEESE (continue):

Attempts at revolution are a failure as a rule,
The eccentric or unusual isn't likely to succeed,
Successful new experiments are very rare indeed,
And nearly every rebel is a silly little fool.

TUTTI (entire) CHORUS:

But once in a while the odd thing happens,
Once and a while the dream comes true,
And the whole pattern of life is altered,
Once in a while the Moon turns blue
posted by hortense at 6:14 PM on August 31, 2012


Man, this post is absolutely fantastic.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:56 PM on September 1, 2012


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