NAT KING COLE - IT'S ONLY A PAPER MOON

IT’S ONLY A PAPER MOON

NAT KING COLE

SONGWRITERS: BILLY ROSE; E.Y. YIP HARBURG & HAROLD ARLEN

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ÁLBUM: NAT KING COLE THR BEST OF

LABEL: RCA VICTOR

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1953

Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919. He had three brothers: Eddie (1910–1970), Ike (1927–2001), and Freddy (1931-2020), and a half-sister, Joyce Coles. Each of the Cole brothers pursued careers in music. When Nat King Cole was four years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister.

Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. His first performance was "Yes! We Have No Bananas" at the age of four. He began formal lessons at 12, learning jazz, gospel, and classical music on piano "from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff". As a youth, he joined the news delivery boys' "Bud Billiken Club" band for The Chicago Defender.

The Cole family moved to the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, where he attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School, the school Sam Cooke attended a few years later. He participated in Walter Dyett's music program at DuSable High School. He would sneak out of the house to visit clubs, sitting outside to hear Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone.

"It's Only a Paper Moon" is a popular song published in 1933 with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose.

It was originally titled "If You Believed in Me," but later went by the more popular title "It's Only a Paper Moon." The song was written for an unsuccessful 1932 Broadway play called The Great Magoo that was set in Coney Island. Claire Carleton first performed this song on December 2, 1932. It was used in the movie Take a Chance in 1933 when it was sung by June Knight and Charles "Buddy" Rogers. Paul Whiteman recorded a hit version later that year, featuring Bunny Berigan on trumpet and Peggy Healy on vocals. Another popular 1933 recording was done by Cliff Edwards.

The song's lasting fame stems from its revival by popular artists during the last years of World War II, with hit recordings being made by Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Benny Goodman (vocal by Dottie Reid). It is now regarded as a jazz and pop standard, and has been recorded by numerous artists over the years.

When "It's Only A Paper Moon", written by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose and composed by Harold Arlen, was published in 1933, it was titled "If You Believed in Me", and was created for a short-live Broadway show "The Great Magoo".

Producer Billy Rose interpolated "It's Only a Paper Moon" for his Broadway show "Crazy Quilt" in 1933. The same year, the song was featured in the film "Take a Chance". Various artists began to record the song which led to its increasing popularity over the years.

Said it is only a paper moon

Sailing over a cardboard sea,

But it wouldn't be make believe

If you believed in me.

Say it is only a canvas sky

Hanging over a muslin tree,

But it wouldn't be make believe

If you believed in me.

Without your love,

It's a honky-tonk parade.

Without your love,

It's a melody played in a penny arcade.

It's a barnum and bailey world,

Just as phony as it can be,

But it wouldn't be make believe

If you believed in me.

~interlude~

Without your love,

It's a honky-tonk parade.

Without your love,

It's a melody played in a penny arcade.

It's a barnum and bailey world

Just as phony as it can be,

But it wouldn't be make believe

If you believed in me.