One Great Cover looks at the greatest cover songs ever, and how they got to be that way.
August 16, 2026 will mark the 49th anniversary of the passing of Elvis Presley. While the 50th anniversary in 2027 will no doubt lead to many tributes, we decided to dive in early and explore one of his many great cover songs: “Blue Moon.”
Most of Elvis Presley’s biggest hits–from his early days as a rowdy, pelvis-shaking rock n’ roller, to those from his later years as an over-the-top Las Vegas performer–were cover songs.
Whether it was his megahits like “Hound Dog” or “Suspicious Minds,” or some of his stranger covers like “An American Trilogy” (a smash up of the Bahamian lullaby “All My Trials,” “Dixie” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic”), once Elvis put his spin on a song, he wrote a new chapter in its history.
Such was the case with “Blue Moon.” Though the song was by no means Elvis’ biggest hit, with his cover, he fused together rock n’ roll with the Great American Songbook and guaranteed the song would endure not just as a standard but as a rock classic.
The song was penned by legendary songwriting duo Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. In the first half of the 20th century, they were arguably one of the most important popular song writing teams in the United States. Together, they wrote more than 500 songs for stage and screen, many of which are still performed to this day, such as “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” and, of course, “Blue Moon.”
“Blue Moon” was originally written with different lyrics under the name “Prayer” for the 1933 film Hollywood Party, but did not make it into the final film. At the urging of MGM Studios, the song underwent several revisions over the next few years until Hart penned the “Blue Moon” lyrics. It was recorded by several artists in 1934 (accounts vary as to the first recording, most point to Ted Fio Rito and his Orchestra). In the twenty-plus years between its first release and Elvis’ recording, many of the top artists of the era put their spin on the song, including Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Vaughn Monroe and Mel Tormé.
Elvis’ cover is credited as being the first rock n’ roll recording of the song, and other acts soon followed in his footsteps. The most popular rock cover was by the Marcels, a doo-wop group who took it to number one in 1961. The Beatles once jammed on it in the studio during the sessions for the White Album (the recording is now available on streaming). Bob Dylan later recorded the song for his 1970 album Self-Portrait, when his voice was in fine form. Additionally, if you listen closely to the opening notes of Eric Clapton’s guitar solo on Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” you can hear the “Blue Moon” melody.
The rock n’ roll nostalgia act Sha Na Na (performing as Johnny Casino the Gamblers) sang the song in the 1978 film version of the musical Grease. It was more for comedic effect, as a setup for members of the T-Birds to expose their bare behinds at a dance. But it was no laughing matter for the rights’ holders as the recording appeared on the soundtrack album, one of the best-selling of all time.
Elvis included his version on his 1956 self-titled debut album, his first for the major label RCA Records. To this day, Elvis Presley ranks as one of the greatest rock records of all time. It features many great covers, such as his takes on Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes” and Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti.” The album contains a mixture of songs he recorded with RCA, as well as several he laid down with Sam Phillips while still at the independent Memphis label Sun Records. “Blue Moon” had been a regular part of his early live repertoire, and he and Phillips made the recording in 1954.
The song was a minor hit at the time of its release, peaking at number 55 on Billboard’s Top 100 chart. It was overshadowed by many of the tracks from the album and even more so by his many smash hits from the era. Still, 70 years after the original release and 49 years after Elvis’ death, “Blue Moon” is a track still worth listening to. The bare-bones arrangement features light clip-clop percussion, bass and some even lighter strummed guitar. The sparseness helps showcase Elvis’ voice. You can hear firsthand why he practically seduced a nation. He seems as though he’s singing right to you.
On the recording, Elvis sings the first verse, the second verse, then the first verse again. The song has no chorus beyond the repetition of the words “Blue Moon” in each verse. By dropping the bridge and the final verse from Hart’s lyrics, it becomes much more of an ambiguous story. Without the “happy ending” of the original lyrics, Elvis delivers the song as a dark, emotional ballad, a tale of love gone wrong. Several times throughout, Elvis issues a guttural howl that seems to cut across time.
With one cover, Elvis put his own indelible mark on the Great American Songbook.
Long live the King!
