Bad Moon Rising

Musicians mourn the demise of the moon in romantic songs

On July 29, 1969 Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, the first men to
land on the moon, planted a U.S. flag on the lunar surface. The 40th anniversary of the
moon landing is Monday, July 20. (AP Photo)

This article was originally published on July 12, 2009 in the following U.S. newspapers:
     •  Home News Tribune - East Brunswick NJ
     •  Desert News - Salt Lake City UT
     •  Northwestern - Oshkosh WI
     •  Phoenix - Muskogee OK
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By Chris Jordan — Staff Writer
CENTRAL JERSEY — Twenty years ago it was one small step for a man, but one giant leap for the demise of the moon in pop songs. When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, he all but squashed the classic pop song device of the moon as a romantic metaphor.

"The moon lost its romantic aspect," said Titusville historian and guitarist Ken Lelen, who plays ragtime, jazz and swing tunes as originally performed or recorded in the first half of the 20th Century. "Since the lunar landing, the moon has been devoid of that power. It's no longer a place for expressing romantic love."

Before Apollo 11 the moon rose often enough in song titles and verses. Blue Moon (1934) by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart; It's Only a Paper Moon (1933) by Harold Arlen, E. Y. Harburg and Billy Rose; Moon River (1961) by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini, and Fly Me to the Moon (1954) are a few moon-themed hits by writers of the Great American Songbook and Tin Pan Alley. The moon was a tangible but untouchable entity representing a physical and spiritual love that would never ebb. It was magical and imponderable, yet very real.

"The moon as metaphor for romantic love has run its course," Lelen said. "I'm not saying it's good or bad, but pop culture is done with it."

While there have been a trickle of pop hits since 1969 that used the moon as a romantic metaphor — most recently R&B's Walking On The Moon by The Dream — the majority of moon songs since the lunar landing conveyed something very different. For example, Bad Moon Rising (1969) by Creedence Clearwater Rising suggests impending Armageddon; Whitey on the Moon (1970) by Gil Scott-Heron deals with racial inequality and social unrest; and Man on the Moon (1992) by R.E.M. suggests the moon landing was faked.

Where did the love go? "We became a little more cynical," said Glen Burtnik of North Brunswick, former member of Styx and hit songwriter. "I remember when Frank Zappa announced he'd never write a love song and thinking that was a revolutionary point of view. Also, what happened, subconsciously, was the moon lost its mystique. It was no longer a celestial body that shined from the heavens; it became some place we could go visit."

Around the time of the moon landing, space references in pop songs also changed from romantic escapism to tales of interstellar exile (David Bowie's Space Oddity) and other-worldly party places. Those were especially prevalent in the Parliament-Funkadelic mythos.

"We threw rockets at it and finally hit, then we walked on it," said Philadelphia singer-songwriter Vance Gilbert, whose Unfamiliar Moon is one of his best-known songs. "There's a certain amount of mystique that we lost . . . it had never been touched — it was the ultimate manifestation of both God and love and you never touched it, but you knew it was there. I think after it got defiled, you got to know it."

In other words, been there, done that. At least we have It's Only a Paper Moon, Fly Me to the Moon, Blue Moon, Moon River, etc.

"Maybe it has run its course, but for singers like me, it's not going away," said musician and vintage guitarist Lelen. "There is no shortage of romantic songs with the moon as a focus of romantic devotion."

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Ken Lelen: unplugged and loving it.

Opening for jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, Ken Lelen will sing ragtime, jazz and swing and play vintage acoustic guitars with bassist Matt Koch on July 17, 2009, 8 pm, at the Minstrel Folk Project in Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Hgts Rd, Morristown NJ, $7. Info at 973-335-9489 and folkproject.org.

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