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Why 'Fly Me to The Moon' was sung at Neil Armstrong memorial

Jazz singer Diana Krall sang "Fly Me To The Moon" at Neil Armstrong's memorial service Thursday. The song has a history with Armstrong, and the moon landing.

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(AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
From left, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Annie Glenn, astronaut and former Ohio Sen. John Glenn, and singer Diana Krall, stand during the opening processional at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012, during a national memorial service for the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong.
  • By Seth Borenstein Associated Press

| Washington

 Americans are bidding farewell to Neil Armstrong, the first man to take a giant leap on to the moon.

The powerful of Washington, the pioneers of space, and the everyday public crowded into the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday for a public interfaith memorial for the very private astronaut. Armstrong, who died last month at age 82, walked on the moon in July 1969.

Apollo 11 crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins and Mercury astronaut John Glenn were at the church, which includes a moon rock embedded in its stained glass windows.

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Singer Diana Krall was scheduled to sing "Fly Me To The Moon." The service also included excerpts from a speech 50 years ago by John F. Kennedy about why America was sending astronauts to the moon.

"Fly Me to The Moon" was written by Bart Howard in 1954. It was originally titled "In Other Words." Frank Sinatra's 1964 recording was played by the astronauts of Apollo 10 and it was played again on the moon by Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 landing. And Diana Krall sang it in 2009 during the 40th anniversary of the landing, with all three of the Apollo 11 crew present at the Smithsonian.

Fly me to the moon
 Let me play among the stars
 Let me see what spring is like
 On Jupiter and Mars
 In other words, hold my hand
 In other words, darling, kiss me
 
 Fill my life with song
 And let me sing for ever more
 You are all I long for
 All I worship and adore
 In other words, please be true
 In other words, I love you
 Fly me to the moon
 Let me play among the stars
 Let me see what spring is like
 On Jupiter and Mars
 In other words, hold my hand
 In other words, darling, kiss me
 
 Fill my life with song
 Let me sing for ever more
 You are all I long for
 All I worship and adore
 In other words, please be true
 In other words, in other words
 In other words, in other words
 In other words
 I love ... you

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