Yesterday’s BLOTT explored the Robert Heinlein novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
I have long loved the Judy Collins song, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, without realizing the connection to the book.
“The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress” (sometimes titled “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress”) is a song by American songwriter Jimmy Webb. It has become a much-recorded standard, without ever having charted as a single. Webb appropriated the title from the 1966 science fiction novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. The song is especially associated with Glen Campbell, who performed the song on his farewell tour, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, and Joe Cocker, who first recorded the song in 1974.
In a 2009 interview with Lisa Torem for Penny Black Music, Jimmy Webb talked about the influence of Robert Heinlein and the song’s title:
Robert Heinlein, was a kind of early mentor of mine. I started reading his books when I was eight years old. … I guess I was really getting more of my education out of science-fiction than out of public school. I was reading Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov and learning a great deal about the patois of the language itself and how these words were being used to create emotions. I was learning this from writers without even knowing it. … “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” was one of the best titles I’ve ever heard in my life. I really am guilty of appropriating something from another writer. In this case I had contact with Robert A. Heinlein’s attorneys. I said, ‘I want to write a song with the title, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”. Can you ask Mr. Heinlein if it’s okay with him?’ They called me back and he said he had no objection to it.
Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21.
During his career, he established himself as one of America’s most successful and honored songwriter/composers.
Webb has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “MacArthur Park”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Worst That Could Happen”, “Galveston” and “All I Know”. He had successful collaborations with Glen Campbell, Michael Feinstein, Linda Ronstadt, the 5th Dimension, the Supremes, Art Garfunkel and Richard Harris.
Wikipedia / Image By Tore Sætre – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Judy Collins sings a beautiful version….
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Jimmy Webb
See her how she flies Golden sails across the sky Close enough to touch But careful if you try Though she looks as warm as gold
The moon’s a harsh mistress The moon can be so cold
Once the sun did shine Lord, it felt so fine The moon a phantom rose Through the mountains and the pines And then the darkness fell
And the moon’s a harsh mistress It’s so hard to love her well
I fell out of her eyes I fell out of her heart I fell down on my face
Yes, I did, and I, I tripped and I missed my star God, I fell and I fell alone, I fell alone And the moon’s a harsh mistress And the sky is made of stone
The moon’s a harsh mistress She’s hard to call your own
There is also a beautiful version sung by Linda Ronstadt, accompanied by the song’s author, Jimmy Webb.
Images inspired by the lyrics…
See her how she flies Golden sails across the sky Close enough to touch But careful if you try Though she looks as warm as gold
The moon’s a harsh mistress The moon can be so cold
Once the sun did shine Lord, it felt so fine The moon a phantom rose Through the mountains and the pines And then the darkness fell
And the moon’s a harsh mistress It’s so hard to love her well
I fell out of her eyes I fell out of her heart I fell down on my face
Yes, I did, and I, I tripped and I missed my star God, I fell and I fell alone, I fell alone And the moon’s a harsh mistress And the sky is made of stone
The moon’s a harsh mistress She’s hard to call your own
