It Wouldn't Be Make-Believe if You Believed

I started a bit of moon-surfing after discovering there's a supermoon on Saturday. We were outside after supper enjoying the spring-like weather when Sylvie and I noticed the moon seemed brighter and larger than normal. When we came in we googled for the date of the full moon and learned that it is going to be a bit closer to the earth this month than it usually is. Some astrologers believe this means there will be natural disasters -- like the earthquake in Japan. Apparently the big tsunami in 2004 happened just three weeks before a supermoon. But scientists say there is no truth to the notion. These events were just strange coincidences, I suppose.

Somehow I got onto paper moons -- I think it would be fun to set up a paper moon photo booth at a street fair or some other event this summer -- and found a number of fun old postcards, including the one up top. I've just emailed Todd, a friend who is a graphic designer, to see if he could insert Sylvie's little head onto that girl's body. I love her polka-dotted dress and striped tights and the very faint colourization in yellows and pinks.

And then I ended up on youtube, listening to various versions of the song -- what zippy, catchy, perfect little lyrics. "Paper Moon" is a great title for something, a poem, short story, novel or, obviously, movie (which I have not yet seen). "Canvas Sky" and "Cardboard Sea" would also make great titles. 

My money's on Ella for the best version but it's a really hard song not to sing well.

Some say the song belongs to Nat King Cole. James Taylor has a very mellow version. Lena Zavaroni looks just right singing it and doesn't sound half-bad. Although Fiona Apple and her sister Maude Maggart's version starts slowly, the second half is almost perfect and their voices sound like they belong in a 1930s musical.  Abbie Gardner's slightly more warbly version is set to a slideshow of the postcards.

I checked amazon for a book of vintage paper moon postcards and there doesn't appear to be one, which seems odd. Someone should remedy that.

Comments

[Levi Stahl]

Frank does a beautiful version, too. What I love about the song is how closely it hews to its central conceit: it's a paper moon, hanging in a canvas sky over a cardboard sea and a muslin tree. And the rhythm and sound of "Just as phony as it can be" is wonderful--but if you ever try singing it, you gain an instant appreciation of people who can sing with feeling--again, I'm thinking of Frank's version here--the odd little rise and fall of the melody there (there's an unexpected sharp there, thinks my only half-capable piano-playing brain) is tough to do even if you're just singing; add in an effort to convey the feeling and meaning of the line and it become brutally difficult. It's one I'll never master no matter how many decade of singing in the shower I'm allotted.

Oh, how I love that song. (Side note: if you're into moons right now, you should check out a book I'm currently doing publicity for in my day job, James Attlee's Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight. He wanders the globe looking for unadulterated moonlight--which is unexpectedly hard to find--and reflecting on the place of the moon in our literature and culture over centuries. It's one of my favorite books this season, and would be even if I weren't being paid to sing its praises.)

[Steph]

Now you've got me singing, Levi.

And thanks for the heads-up on the Attlee book -- I think I saw Lauren Cerand mention it on facebook and I was curious. I will definitely look for it.