I hope you all went outside last week and had a good look at the moon. It’s a beautiful sight on any clear night but 2014 is a special year because the moon’s orbit moves especially close to the earth earth for the full moons of July, August and September. The same thing happened twice in January for new moons.
When the moon is at its closest point in its elliptical orbit, it can appear especially bright. About thirty years ago, someone dubbed the phenomenon “super moon” and the name has stuck, at least in the media (astronomers still call it the perigee moon). The August super moon was reportedly 14% closer and 30% brighter than an average full moon.
When the curtains of night are pinned back with a star
And the beautiful moon climbs the sky
And the dew drops of heaven are kissing the rose
It is then that my memory flies
That song sung by the Carter Family was just one of many in which they mention the moon. I did a random sampling of more than 200 songs from their repertoire and found the moon was mentioned in more than 10% of them.
The moon is a very important celestial body. Earth is unique among the planets of our solar system in having a satellite that is so large in comparison to its orbital companion. Astronomers aren’t sure whether the earth captured its big satellite during the formation of the solar system or if two planet sized bodies collided and reached an equilibrium. The equilibrium is only temporary in the grand scheme of things because our moon is slipping away ever so slightly with each passing year, Some day the moon and the earth will part company. But the earth-moon partnership has been critical to life on our planet. Without the regular tides caused by the moon on the liquid water in our oceans, life might have had a much more difficult time evolving here.
Pardon my digression from music to astronomy and evolution. What I really wanted to emphasize is that our moon is really special. Bluegrass and Old Time music reflect that fact:
My Dixie darling, listen to the song I sing
Beneath the silvery moon, with my banjo right in tune
I started with the Carter Family, but you will find the moon in songs from just about anybody. I’ll bet you could go to any jam, listen to all the songs called, and hear the image of moon evoked more than a few times. Here’s a sampling of what you might hear:
Meet me by the moonlight, Oh meet me
Meet me by the moonlight alone
I have a sad story to tell you
All down by the moonlight alone
Blue Moon of Kentucky, keep on shining
Shine on the one that’s gone and left me blue
Have a feast here tonight while the moon’s shining bright
As I sit here alone in the moonlight
I can see your shining face
And I long once more for your embrace
In that beautiful Kentucky waltz
Now the moon is shining bright. It lights my pathway tonight
Back to the only one I ever loved
I’ve heard all about the tune that’s called the Alabama moon
But the Mississippi moon shines just as bright
That would cover plenty of tunes by the Stanleys, Bill Monroe, and Flatt and Scruggs. And that last Jimmie Rodgers tune mentions the moon no fewer than ten times.
I’ll close with a song from Fiddling Arthur Smith:
My mind is like the constant sun
From the east to west it ranges
Yours is like unto the moon
It’s every month it changes
That’s straight out of the classics. Remember when you had to read Shakespeare in high school? Here’s how Juliet rebukes Romeo with exactly the same idea:
O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon
That monthly changes in her circle orb
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable
Super moon or not, the moon is super. Inspiration for poets, musicians, scientists and all of the rest of us. Go out and take a good look at it some time.
