Blue!

Apologies for yet another post sparked by Chromatics, but I was listening to Johnny Jewel’s just-released Lost River soundtrack the other day and realized they’d slipped one of their (typically-wonderful) covers by me somehow.

In 2012, they released a haunting cover of Elvis’ “Blue Moon” (you know, yet another song basically based on the chord progression of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D”).

I can hear you sharpening your electronic quills now.

“But Glyph”, you will type, “it’s ironic that “Blue Moon” – a reference to an event that happens roughly once a year and is used colloquially to denote “rarity”, as in “once in a blue moon” – is in fact not rare at all! By which I mean, Elvis’ version was not the original song, but just one cover of a 1934 classic Rodgers/Hart standard that’s been covered by many, many artists!”

And I will type, “You’re right – if exceptionally long-winded and pedantic!”

Except that Chromatics are clearly covering Elvis’ spooky, sad version (“spooky & sad” being kind of Chromatics’ stock-in-trade):

How do we know they are covering Elvis?

Well, aside from the fact that Chromatics singer Ruth Radelet is doing her own version of that keening, wordless falsetto that the King did on his, she likewise (presumably abiding by royal decree) omits the original song’s bridge and final verse. Elvis’ alteration excised the original happy ending to the sad story, and she follows suit.

To wit, the “missing” ultimate portion of the song:

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper, “Please adore me”
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold

Blue moon
Now I’m no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

The most-popular version of the song (and not coincidentally, a much more upbeat one) doesn’t skip that last part:

Here’s a live Chromatics take, notable not just for Radelet’s poise (and stunning dress), but for the very Parisian crowd – first blithely-chattering, then viciously shushing each other, as the spell she’s weaving over the room becomes undeniable to all:

A somewhat-different composition (though my untrained ear hears what sound like some of those same chords under there, probably intentionally) with the same name and completely-different lyrics was recorded by Big Star for 1975’s Third/Sister Lovers.

Third is an album for which Spooky and Sad could be an apt alternate title, having famously been recorded under conditions of intense personal and professional strain; but instead of a lonely lament from one bereft, this “Blue Moon” rearranges the nocturnal lunar imagery into a tender and openhearted promise of fidelity and protection, from lover to beloved.

Still, it nonetheless has its own sweet, spellbinding ache:

Let me be your one light
and if you’d like a true heart
take the time to show you’re mine
and I’ll be a blue moon in the dark

While you sleep you’ll see me there
clouds race across the sky
close your eyes and don’t ask why
and I’ll be a blue moon in your eyes

Morning comes and sleeping’s done
birds sing outside
if demons come while you’re under
I’ll be a blue moon in the sky

Let me be your one light
and if you’d like a true heart
take the time to show you’re mine
and I’ll be a blue moon in the dark

Here’s another couple nice covers:

Rodgers/Hart’s composition, by Julie London:

Big Star’s composition, by His Name Is Alive:

Header image from NASA.