“It’s Only a Paper Moon” | Stories of Standards

Harold Arlen’s “It’s Only a Paper Moon” was originally titled “If You Believed in Me” and debuted in the 1932 Broadway show, The Great Magoo.

Tune in to First Take with Chavis and Lando - weekdays from 6-9 am MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long!

The tune did not immediately top the charts, but subsequent recordings by jazz greats including Paul Whiteman, Nat “King” Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Benny Goodman contributed to the song’s renown.

Lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose depict a world-weary narrator who falls in love. The narrator sees the night sky as “only a paper moon/ Sailing over a cardboard sea,” but entreats his love that “it wouldn’t be make believe if you believed in me.”

According to Harburg, “They wanted a song for the barker, a man disillusioned with the world, and he had finally fallen in love.” Harburg “got an idea-there’s a guy who sees the lights of Broadway, thinks the whole world is that, that the moon is a paper moon, everything is a Barnum and Bailey world.’”

Covers of “It’s Only a Paper Moon” are as diverse as the musicians who have performed the song, with each artist infusing the song’s lyrics with their own style and sentiments.

In 1933, Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra recorded a relatively up-tempo, band-style version of the song. A Cliff Edwards recording later that same year, played with a ukulele at a slower pace, lends the tune a more contemplative sentiment.

Though Nat “King” Cole’s 1943 version of “It’s Only a Paper Moon” was not hugely popular upon its release, he reintroduced a snappier tempo and feel to the tune, an interpretation which laid the foundation for Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman’s respective 1945 hits. 

Tune in to First Take with Chavis and Lando - weekdays from 6-9 am MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long!