Louise Howlett (Vocalist) & Albert Combrink (Piano)
“Fly me to the Moon” written by Bart Howard (1954)
Recorded live at the Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch Conservatorium, August 2012

Buy MP3 track of Studio version at https://www.albertcombrink.com/topics/cdbaby-or-direct-purhase/

A Little Fly Me to the Moon History:
From “Sinatra! The Song is You – A Singer’s Art” by Will Friedwald
Regarding the song, Fly Me to the Moon, Friedwald says that the composer, Bart Howard, originally wrote the song as a waltz and there were already hundreds of versions out there before Sinatra recorded it. June Christy and Peggy Lee were two of the bigger names who sang this song.

Quincy Jones had arranged the song as an instrumental for Count Basie. Jones boosted the tempo and changed the time signature to 4/4 for Basie’s 1963 album “This Time by Basie.”

Sinatra had known Bart Howard for over a decade and wanted to record the song. On the Sinatra-Basie album of 1964, the song explodes with energy and Howard, the songwriter, wrote “Frank changed the lyrics (and the song) so much, which normally would have annoyed the crap out of me but didn’t because it worked so well.” The song went on to become an anthem for swinging songs.
To book the artists or purchase a CD, contact Louise Howlett at singing-lady@hotmail.com and visit https://www.albertcombrink.com for more information.

Purchase downloadable tracks of the CD at https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/combrinkhowlett

Download FREE SHEET MUSIC of “Fly me to the Moon”:

“Fly me to the Moon” LYRICS:
Fly me to the moon Let me swing among those stars
Let me see what spring is like On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand In other words, baby, kiss me

Fill my heart with song Let me sing forever more
You are all I long for All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true In other words, I love you

Why don’t you fill my heart with song? Let me swing forever more
Because you are all I long for All I worship and I adore
In other words, please be true In other words
I love, you

The song has also come to be associated with real Space Travel:

Association with space travel

  • Frank Sinatra’s 1964 recording was played by the astronauts of Apollo 10 on their lunar-orbital mission and again on the moon itself by the astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 landing.
  • Yi So-Yeon, a spaceflight participant from South Korea who flew aboard Soyuz TMA-12 reported in a post-mission news conference that she had sung “Fly Me to the Moon” for the other crew members while in space.
  • On July 20, 2009, Diana Krall performed the song at the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 commemoration ceremony held at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The three astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission were in the audience.
  • On Sept. 13, 2012, Diana Krall sang the song as a tribute at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington during the national memorial service for the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTABfsEuOM

    Albert Combrink & Louise Howlett