The Vinyl Word: Songs about the moon

Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, is famous for the song Moonshadow

There is a long list of artists that have recorded moon or space-themed songs.

Over the past week, the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. An incredible feat, especially back then.
The various celebrations reminded me of a song the late John Stewart wrote called Armstrong.

John Stewart was an American folk singer and one-time member of the Kingston Trio. Over the course of his music career he wrote several hit singles, like Daydream Believer for the Monkees, Runaway Train, July, You're a Woman and probably his biggest hit, Gold, which came out in 1979.

The song Armstrong was released in August of 1969 and was a minor hit here in New Zealand by an Australian country singer called Reg Lindsay. The lyrics to the song are quite prolific and sum up the feeling in the world at the time of the moon landing. The opening verse went like this:

"Black boy in Chicago
Playing in the street
Not near enough to wear
Not near enough to eat
Don't you know he saw it
On a July afternoon
He saw a man named Armstrong
Walk upon the moon."

That July 1969 momentous event spurned many songs to be written about the moon and space.

Songs like David Bowie's breakout hit Space Oddity from 1969. Then out came his Ziggy Stardust album in 1972 and the top 10 hit Starman.

Also in the 70s, Elton John scored a big hit with Rocket Man.

Then there was the hit for The PoliceWalking on the Moon, although that was more about Sting's loneliness after a breakup, than man walking on the moon.

The 1990s were another popular era for space-themed songs. Notably was the hit for the Australian duo Savage Garden whose hit single To the Moon and Back reached No 3 in the UK in 1992. If you want to go back a few years, we cannot forget Frank Sinatra with the Count Basie orchestra and Fly Me to the Moon from 1964. And if you want to go back even further there's Louis Armstrong with Oscar Peterson, Moon Song from 1957, The Marcels' 1961 doo-woop hit Blue Moon.

There is a long list of artists that have recorded moon or space-themed songs. How many can you list?