Bart Howard wrote the music and lyrics of "Fly Me to the Moon" in 1954 as a cabaret ballad, originally under the title "In Other Words". A piano accompanist, he wrote it after a publisher asked for a simpler song, and he refused another publisher's request to change "fly me" to "take me". Felicia Sanders introduced it in cabaret, and Kaye Ballard made the first commercial recording for Decca in April 1954. Peggy Lee persuaded Howard to adopt the title "Fly Me to the Moon" in 1963.
Joe Harnell's 1962 bossa nova instrumental reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy. Frank Sinatra's 1964 version with Count Basie, arranged by Quincy Jones, changed the tempo from 3/4 to 4/4 and became associated with NASA's Apollo program. A jazz standard in C with English lyrics, it has a romantic, swinging feel. Ballard's recording was selected for the National Recording Registry in 2026.
