It's Only a Paper Moon

from the 1933 Theatre play "The Great Magoo"

Music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and Billy Rose , 1933

 

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra

 

Recorded January 11, 1951, Manhattan Center, New York City, Matrix No. E1VB-14 Take 1

Recorded January 16, 1951, RCA Victor Studio 2, New York City, Matrix No. E1VB-14 Take 1A

Recorded February 1, 1951, Manhattan Center, New York City, Matrix No. E1VB-14 Take 2 - 2A

Single release: RCA-78RPM-20-4034-A ~ Recording Time 2:05

Single Flip Side: "Me and My Shadow"

| Lyrics | Album Links | Digital Finder |

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra

Recorded at Manhattan Center, New York City

Recorded February 1, 1951

 

Notes: ~ Written in 1933 for the Theatre play "The Great Magoo" and originally titled "If You Believed in Me." It was sung with the new title by June Knight and Charles "Buddy" Rodgers in the 1933 Hollywood musical "Take a Chance." It was also heard in the 1945 film "To Young to Know" starring Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton. It inspired the title and was heard in the background of the 1973 film "Paper Moon" starring Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. Barbara Streisand sang it in the 1975 Musical Biography "Funny Lady" where Streisand played Fanny Brice and James Caan played Billy Rose. Perry Como recorded the song in 1951 and it was included within his second RCA Camden compilation "Perry Como Sings Just for You" released in 1958 and still available on compact disc some forty years later.

A Perry Como Discography 

& Digital Companion

| Site Links | All Albums |  All Songs | The Recording Sessions |

First Edition Summer 1992

Second Edition Christmas 1993

Web Page Edition Christmas 1997

25th Anniversary Revision November, 2017

Digital Upgrade August, 2018

Easter 2023 Revised Edition

 

 

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Canada

 

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