I've always had a fascination with the moon... How can you not, growing up anywhere on this earth...? I was 6 years old and living with my family in Perth in Australia in 1969 when Apollo 11 travelled to the moon. We lay in the garden with friends, watching a black and white TV hooked up to a car battery, as Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words... "one giant leap", and stepped on the moon... The next year, the Apollo 11 astronauts came to Perth and local schoolchildren got to see them in person, I was one of those lucky kids. I remember the "tick-a-tape" parade in the Business Centre and meeting these giant people who I wish I recalled better...
There's a reason so many songs mention the moon... "Black Moon Rising", "Walking on the Moon", "The Moon was Yellow", "Fly me to the Moon", "Moondance", "The Killing Moon"... and on and on. It's just an inspiration.
"Man in the Moon" has a fairly mundane starting point. I had a place in Stratford upon Avon while working in Coventry, around 2017. I went to a chip shop on the Maybird shopping park and as I came out and looked up t the sky, I saw the most amazing full moon I had seen in ages. By the time I'd driven back to the flat, the song was born.
I don't have a religion but I can't rule out that the 'man in the moon' I sing about is God. Just look at the lyrics... Man in the Moon is..."looking down on me", "aware of everything", "making sure that everybody understands, it's in his hands"
I don't know for sure of course, but that is quite a catalogue of omnipotence for an earth satellite...
Funnily enough, it has turned out to be the most popular track on the 'Kiss and Tell' album. It's the song I get the most feedback about so I guess I shouldn't knock it.. Whatever it evokes in a listener, I'm grateful. I appreciate any feedback about the songs and if this one makes you think about anything deeper than you had intended, well, I'm very happy with that.. Thanks for bearing with me. In the final words of "Man in the Moon"... 'We'll see you soon...'
Crispin x
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