Songfacts®:

• "Fly Me To The Moon" is a classic love song, using space travel as a metaphor for the thrall of love. It might be a little one sided, though. The singer is definitely smitten, but is hoping for a commitment, as we hear in the last lines:
  
  In other words, please be true
  In other words, I love you
  
  The song was written by Bart Howard in 1954 as "In Other Words," and it was introduced on the cabaret circuit by Felicia Saunders. Two years after Kaye Ballard recorded the first commercial version of the song, Johnny Mathis released his rendition as "Fly Me to the Moon."
  
  In 1962 the composer Joe Harnell revived the song, giving it a bossa nova arrangement. His version peaked at #14 in the US and won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Two years later, Frank Sinatra recorded the song with the Count Basie Orchestra arranged by Quincy Jones. Though it was never a hit, his is considered the definitive version.
  
  Other notable versions of this much-recorded standard include ones by Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Connie Francis and Westlife. Connie Francis' Italian version recorded in 1962 under the title "Portami con te" was an international best-seller.
• Sinatra was about to marry the 21-year-old Mia Farrow when he put this to disc, which gave his recording an extra spring in the step.
• During Apollo 10's lunar mission, a cassette recording of relevant songs befitting a flight to the Moon was played. Sinatra's recording of this song was included along with others such as "Going Back to Houston" and "Moonlight Serenade." Therefore this song was one of the first ever to be played in outer space.
• Here are the artists that have charted with this song:
  
  Joe Harnell #14, 1963
  Mark Murphy #123, 1963
  Tony Bennett #84, 1965
  LaVern Baker #84, 1965
  Sam & Bill #98, 1966
  Bobby Womack #52, 1968
• Tony Bennett often performed this song unamplified, putting his microphone down and singing it loud and clear. He started doing it after meeting a Broadway veteran who explained that they used to perform that way, forcing them to "hit the back of the room." Bennett pulled this off when he went "really unplugged" on his 1994 MTV Unplugged special.
• In 1998, Bennett performed a parody on Sesame Street called "Slimey To The Moon" about the character Slimey the Worm's trip to space.
• "Fly Me To The Moon" plays in the 2003 movie Down With Love when Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger's characters are preparing for a date. The Astrud Gilberto version plays when we see her getting ready, and the Frank Sinatra version plays in his scenes.
  
  The song has been used in about 200 other major movies or TV series. Among them:
  
  Space Force ("It's Good to Be Back on the Moon" - 2020)
  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ("Panty Pose" - 2019)
  Mad Men ("Indian Summer" - 2007)
  ER ("I Don't" - 2007)
  The Simpsons ("The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" - 2006)
  Sex and the City ("I Love a Charade" - 2002)
  The Wonder Years ("Scenes from a Wedding" - 1992)
  WKRP in Cincinnati (several episodes)
  Starsky and Hutch ("Losing Streak" - 1976)
  
  My Dinner with Hervé (2018)
  RoboCop (2014)
  Melancholia (2011)
  Wedding Crashers (2005)
  Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
  Space Cowboys (2000)
• Cynthia Erivo sang "Fly Me To The Moon" at the Grammy Awards in 2025 as part of a tribute to Quincy Jones, who arranged the orchestra on the song.