Editing Fly Me to the Moon (section)

==Background and composition==
In 1954, when "Fly Me to the Moon" was first presented to the public, Bart Howard had been pursuing a career in music for over 20 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/famous-iowans/bart-howard |title=Famous Iowans - Bart Howard &#124; The Des Moines Register &#124; DesMoinesRegister.com |publisher=Data.desmoinesregister.com |access-date=2013-12-07 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131207062000/http://data.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/famous-iowans/bart-howard |archive-date=2013-12-07 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He played piano to accompany [[cabaret]] singers, but also wrote songs with [[Cole Porter]], his idol, in mind.<ref name="nytimes2004">{{cite news |author=STEPHEN HOLDEN |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/23/arts/bart-howard-88-songwriter-known-for-fly-me-to-the-moon.html |title=Bart Howard, 88, Songwriter Known for 'Fly Me to the Moon' - New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2004-02-23 |access-date=2013-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219204841/http://www.nytimes.com//2004/02/23/arts/bart-howard-88-songwriter-known-for-fly-me-to-the-moon.html |archive-date=2013-12-19 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the book ''Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret'' James Gavin noted that Howard wrote the song "in response to his publisher's plea for a simpler song: why did he have to write such grandiloquent lyrics? 'In Other Words' talked about the verbosity of poets who 'use many words to say a simple thing'; 'hold my hand,' 'Kiss me.'"<ref name="greatamericansongbook1">{{cite web |url=http://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/f/fly_me_to_the_moon.html |title="Fly Me to the Moon": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video |website=Greatamericansongbook.net |date=2004-02-23 |access-date=2016-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818092042/http://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/f/fly_me_to_the_moon.html |archive-date=2016-08-18 |url-status=live }} Quote from Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret, New York: Back Stage Books
2006. Retrieved December 16, 2024.</ref> 
In response, Howard wrote a cabaret ballad.<ref name="autogenerated411">Will Friedwald, ''Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer's Art'', Scribner, New York, 1995, page 411</ref> A publisher tried to make him change some words from "fly me to the Moon" to "take me to the Moon," but Howard refused.<ref name="nytimes1988">{{cite news|author=Stephen Holden|title=Product of 20 Minutes: A Million Dollar Song|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 19, 1988|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/19/arts/product-of-20-minutes-a-million-dollar-song.html|access-date=26 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219212335/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/19/arts/product-of-20-minutes-a-million-dollar-song.html|archive-date=2013-12-19|url-status=live}}</ref> Many years later Howard commented that "... it took me 20 years to find out how to write a song in 20 minutes."<ref name="nytimes1988"/>

He used his position as a piano accompanist and presenter at the Blue Angel cabaret venue to promote the song,<ref name="greatamericansongbook1"/> and it was soon introduced in [[cabaret]] performances by [[Felicia Sanders]].<ref name="nytimes2004"/>

The song was composed in {{music|time|3|4}} [[time signature]] but was changed to {{music|time|4|4}} by [[Quincy Jones]] in his arrangement.<ref>Interview with Quincy Jones. Appeared in the cover of Frank Sinatra & Count Basie 1964 album "''It Might As Well Be''". [https://web.archive.org/web/20080422000651/http://www.mymusicbase.ru/PPS1/sd_304.htm Transcript]</ref>{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}