Since discovering that all full moons have a name (given to them by the Native Americans who kept track of the months by the lunar calendar), I have written about each one as they appear in our skies. To accompany the post I always include one of the numerous songs that have been written about the moon and its many foibles.
Well, it’s that time of the month again – Yes, it’s time for the full moon to make an appearance in our skies, and this month it’s going to be a supermoon. When the moon is at perigee (coming as close to the earth as is possible), it looks disproportionally bigger and brighter, which can make it quite spectacular. Just to complicate things further, this month it will also be a blood moon, as the earth will line up with the sun creating a lunar eclipse.
If you live in the UK, you’ll have to be up at the crack of dawn on Monday the 21st to catch a glimpse, but I’m hopeful that both my alarm, and the clouds, won’t let me down. So far in this series I’ve not had much luck at spotting a lunar eclipse, but perhaps this time I’ll be lucky.
And here is why I’ve had to continue with this series into another year. Although I covered 13 full moons last year, there were still many great songs left over which hadn’t been used yet. I discovered this next song song when watching the BBC documentary called Wonders of the Moon which aired just after that trio of supermoons appeared in the skies last year. The makers used all the usual suspects as background music for the show (most of them already having been covered here), but one song was new to me, and I kind of fell in love with it. It took a bit of effort but I later discovered it was by female supergroup case/lang/veirs, and was called Supermoon.
Supermoon by case/lang/veirs:
Although case/lang/veirs sound as if they should be a firm of solicitors or accountants, they were the Canadian-American supergroup made up of k.d. lang, Neko Case and Laura Veirs. I had of course heard of k.d. lang before (it seems she likes to use lower case for her moniker), and I have always liked her music, but I hadn’t heard of the other two members of the group before. They apparently formed in 2013 when Lang invited Case and Veirs to join her on a project. She had been considering retirement, but before that happened she wanted to be part of a band, a real collaborative effort. The group released their eponymous album in June 2016 and it apparently received “ecstatic reviews”. It was of an alt-country persuasion and used natural imagery. One of the songs on this album was Supermoon.
As for the ancient name for this month’s supermoon, January is usually the month of the Wolf Moon (link to last year’s post here), as it used to appear in the sky when the wolves were howling in hunger outside the villages. But for this series I’m using the alternate name, which this time can either be the Moon After Yule or the Old Moon. Because of the way it fell in December, we’ve actually had a full moon since Yule already, so The Old Moon it will have to be.
Above is a chart of all the alternate names I’ll be using for the series this year. As ever, if anyone has a cracking moon-related song that could fit any of the names, feel free to offer it up as a suggestion. I do like writing to order, which I think is unusual, but I like the challenge of it all. Quite a few good prompts here, although mainly weather or food & drink related it seems – Could get interesting!
Until next time….
Supermoon Lyrics
(Neko Case/k.d. Lang/Laura Veirs)
Supermoon
Where all the diamond deals are made
We never used to live this long
We’re pioneers my dear press on, move along
And if my smile
Seems painted on once in awhile
I can count on you
To notice and to take me out
Would you like to start a river
And ride it like a painted carousel
Our life savings aren’t enough
Have to lobby hard and make it up
Make it up
Supermoon
We never used to live this long
We’re pioneers my dear
Pioneers we’re pressing on, move along
And if my smile
Seems straight as the Tropic of Cancer it’s because
Nature isn’t magic it’s just a mystery to us
Would you like to start a river
And ride it like a painted carousel
Our life savings aren’t enough
Have to lobby hard and make it up
Make it up
Tell me if you feel it
And we’ll mine it to reveal it
From the dams up to the turbines
Tell me if you feel it
And we’ll mine it to reveal it
From the dams up to the turbines
They’re running much too hot
Too many
What's It All About? 
I can’t remember if “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young has been mentioned. It’s a beautiful song and there’s a lovely video that goes with it.
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Yes, it was featured last September and you left a long comment – see link! (It’s ok, there are just so many posts around here it would be impossible to remember who wrote what).
https://jukeboxtimemachine.com/2018/09/24/the-autumnal-equinox-neil-young-and-harvest-moon/
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“Aba Daba Honeymoon” was a song by Debbie Reynolds in the 1950’s which would fit in with the one on your list. Frank Zappa has a wonderfully weird song on the Mothers Of Invention album “Absolutely Free” called “The Duke of Prunes” which has the opening line “A moon beamed through the prune In June…” which – at a stretch – might fit in with the Fruit Moon.
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Hi Alyson and lynchiefromab,
I am delighted by your respective contributions and suggestions! What else can I say but to resonate with the spirit of this post and your love and fascination towards the moon by introducing you to the enchanting poems and images of the moon, the wolf, the owl and eagles published in my post at https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/if-my-name-were-moon-tonight/
May you enjoy the weekend! Happy New Year to both of you!
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Hello SoundEagle – thanks for dropping by with a link to your wonderful post full of moon-relating poems and images. I may well use some of them for this series.
I have indeed been fascinated by the moon for the last 14 months and can’t believe I kind of took it forgranted up until that point. It is almost full at the moment and we had a great view of it on the way from town today, as it was just sitting behind one of the tall church spires. Quite a magnificent sight.
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Hello Alyson,
Thank you for your enthusiastic and informative reply!
I would really appreciate it if you could give me some feedback at the comment section of my said post. 🙂
Alternatively, I shall very much appreciate it if you could kindly copy and paste your previous comment into the comment section of my said post, as a token of your visit. 🙂
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Done!
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Oh great, 2 new suggestions – I know the Debbie song but not the Frank one (he named his kid Moon Unit didn’t he?).
Thanks for dropping by.
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I love the song, Alyson. Haunting – great strings – perfect for a moon post. I’ve been worrying about the moon lately….. about China’s actions… I just want to yell, “LEAVE IT ALONE!” I’m fearful of a future where us humans get our dirty greedy hands on it and what the effects might be.
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The more I listen to that song, the more I love it – Haunting as you say and a great mix of voices.
You are right, we’ve f**ked up our own planet so let’s not do the same to our only satellite. It’s a long time since anyone has been up there, and never to the dark side – Hope there are no shady goings on (no pun intended) when, and if, they make the trip!
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Hi Alyson, this is just such a beautiful interpretation of Walking on the Moon. Christian McBride is a stunning bass player, but always lets his fellow band members ‘step up’. See what you think.
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You are right, beautiful indeed – Will have to remember to use it later in the year (although if you read above, you will see that myself and C hope there will be no more walking on the moon going on anytime soon). Reminds me of the kind of music used in 70s thrillers.
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I find it very fascinating with the moons, its faces and its worshipping.
I did notice the moon growing very big last night, will definitely look out for the ‘ Wolf moon’ …
, blood moon ….
Love looking at the moon any clear night.
Miriam
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Indeed – such a simple pleasure but one I’ve enjoyed so much of late. No two months are ever the same because of the seasons, lunar eclipses and perigee. A source of inspiration for poems and song lyrics.
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Speaking of Lang, last night we had some friends over. One of the albums I played was Lang’s Ingenue. Have you heard it? It’s excellent.
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Gosh, that’s a coincidence. I don’t have the album but I do have many of the songs from it on my digital database. Excellent as you say.
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Excellent choice of song & group, Alyson. I’ve been a k.d. lang fan for many years (hence my blog series on her discography a few years ago). I discovered Neko Case via another Canadian supergroup, The New Pornographers, and ended up loving her solo work as well. I also have a few Laura Veirs albums that I really like, so I was very excited about the three of them teaming up. I liked the album a lot but they didn’t quite achieve “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” status for me. Still very good, though.
As for the Supermoon, I’ll have to let others enjoy it at the crack of dawn. Here in North Carolina we’ll be having a 2-day arctic blast which will result in overnight temperatures around 18 degrees fahrehneit, which is about -7 to -8 celsius. Needless to say I’ll be staying indoors with the heat on.
I’m glad you’re continuing this series. I always enjoy the spin you put on the moon subject (pun somewhat intended) and you consistently choose wonderful musical accompaniment.
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Hi there – This is weird. I have just been over to your place and read all about Jimi Hendrix but was struggling to come up with any half-decent comment to make, so decided to go off and mull over it. I may struggle, as again, an artist I think of as producing male gender music. It did remind me though of a great sketch shown on British telly years ago, by a pair called Alas Smith and Jones – They used to do a “talking head” kind of thing face to face, and were reminiscing about how good music used to be, back in the olden days, before proceeding to replicate the sounds of Jimi Hendrix. You have to see it to get it probably, but was very funny – 50 years ago now and his music still sounds more innovative than much of what has followed.
But back to my moon post – Great for me to discover new stuff always and this song has stuck with me all week. Didn’t know of Case or Veirs before but I do like the sound of their voices. I somehow didn’t imagine it would get so cold in North Carolina as I think of it as a Southern State but it’s winter I suppose and you guys don’t have the North Atlantic Drift that helps us out I suppose. I kept missing the lunar eclipses last year because of cloud cover but I hope to catch this one despite the low temperatures here. Beautiful moon tonight.
This year I will have to venture into new territory with my moon-related songs as I think I used up all the obvious picks last year. Should be interesting. Thanks for dropping by – You’ve been missed.
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I’m looking forward to the Button Moon. We used to have a music teacher called Mr. Moon whose hands used to get bright red when he was angry. Which was most of the time.
I was a fan of all 3 of the ladies in C/L/V before their collaboration and probably didn’t listen to that album as much as I ought to. Supermoon sounds good here.
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Daphne Moon in Frasier and Alfie Moon in Eastenders – Quite a common name it seems although I don’t know of anyone with it myself.
There is a great supermoon in our skies tonight and we’ve just been out with a camera borrowed from Mr WIAA’s workplace. Hoping to get something good to share next month.
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That was some super wolf blood moon! Those of us in the Pacific Northwest were lucky. Few clouds (for once) and all wrapped up by 9:15PM. The family went to a nearby park and watched the entire spectacle away from the lights of the city.
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You lucky things – Despite looking forward to it all week, I messed up setting my alarm (it’s a new radio alarm I got for Christmas) and missed the whole thing. Having said that I am reliably informed we had cloud cover, and I wouldn’t have seen it anyway. I will now never know.
As it turns out the full moon the night before, and night after, was pretty spectacular so at least I enjoyed that. By the way, I have new banner heading, courtesy of a local photographer who let me use his image of the (almost) full moon shining over the town earlier in the week. Love it.
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This supergroup is new to me. Good song and a worthy addition to your series! I ought to give the album a try before I compile my best albums of the decade.
I’m sure you can find a few honey-moon songs though could be about newly weds 🙂
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You are right – a worthy addition. I love making new discoveries like this through blogging.
Loads of ‘50s movies with songs that refer to the moon, honeymoons in June etc. Got a moon post lined up that includes them!
Have a good weekend.
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