You saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own (but, perhaps, with an orange slice in my beer)...

Rare New Year's Eve 'blue moon' to ring in 2010 (AP)
LOS ANGELES – Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't expect it to be blue — the name has nothing to do with the color of our closest celestial neighbor. A full moon occurred on Dec. 2. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown. "If you're in Times Square, you'll see the full moon right above you. It's going to be that brilliant," said Jack Horkheimer, director emeritus of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of a weekly astronomy TV show. The New Year's Eve blue moon will be visible in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up until New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.- complete AP article

Blue Moon
"Blue Moon" is a classic popular song written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934. The first crossover recording to rock and roll came from Elvis Presley, but the version that really stirred things up came from The Marcels, a doo-wop group. In 1961 the Marcels had 3 songs to record and needed one more. Producer Stu Phillips did not like any of the other songs except one that had the same changes as Heart and Soul and Blue Moon. He asked them if they knew either, and one knew Blue Moon and taught it to the others, though with the bridge or release (middle section - "I heard somebody whisper...") wrong. The famous introduction to the song ("bomp-baba-bomp" and "dip-da-dip") was an excerpt of an original song that the group had in its act. The record reached #1 on the Billboard Pop chart for three weeks and #1 on the R&B charts. [3] The Marcels version of "Blue Moon" sold a million copies, and is featured in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. - (from Wikipedia, so it must be true)

Marcels 1961:


Early Ray Thomas and John Lodge were in a band called El Riot and the Rebels before they joined the Moody Blues. Blue Moon/Down The Line was a 78 RPM demo recorded by the band.


And, of course, Billie Holiday: