Nat King Cole's 'Fly Me to the Moon' for poetry

Though a beautiful song, Nat King Cole's "Fly Me to The Moon" is not my favorite of his (those two are forthcoming), possibly not my favorite version of the many that exist. But, I chose this particular song due to its reference to poetry...and the music. 

Who else is overloaded, feeling like they need to relax and ...
b-r-e-a-t-h-e?
This is the music for it. 

The lyrics (partial) ...

Poets often use many words

To say a simple thing

It takes thought and

time and rhyme

To make a poem sing

With music and words

I've been playing

For you I have written a song

To be sure that you know

what I'm saying

I'll translate as I'll go along

Fly me to the moon

And let me play among the stars...

As far as Nat King Cole,  incidentally, you'll have a few future posts to skip if you're not a fan. To be honest, I had only a vague recollection of his music, and largely Christmas songs at that, until a couple of years ago. 

My husband Jim -- an unrivaled Beatles fan, and rather decent singer fixed that cultural deficiency which has proven rewarding to say the least.

Even YouTube comments from younger generations echo his belief that Cole's voice is unmatched to this day ...the word "clarity" often applied.  

Some handpicked facts and anecdotes about the song: 

• Fly Me To The Moon is found in some modern games, to include Fallout: New Vegas -- which I suspect most players don't notice.
• There are a fair number of modern movies that include it, such as Space Cowboys and WallStreet, so it's likely to sound familiar. 
• It looks like there are over 15-20 versions of Fly Me to The Moon. I've heard about eight and so far find Cole's and Perry Como's the best. I didn't like Tony Bennet's version and Frank Sinatra's is fine if you want perky. 

Did anyone else think he was "a white guy" as a kid..even until later in life? I'm usually way off base anyway when imagining what a singer looks like. But I suspect there were some cultural influences at play here ...whether his voice was natural or cultivated to lose its ethnicity I haven't a clue...but aim to find out. I know he was the victim of racism in his career.

Otherwise, I can't remember when I first saw Cole. Then again most the music my parents listened to was a blur until years later. I think it's a Gen X thing. Cole died young,1965, from lung cancer not long before I was born. 

Are you a Cole fan or are you new to his magic, your thoughts?