“Blue Moon” by Beck

"Blue Moon" was the first taste of Morning Phase, Beck's 12th studio album, in 2014, and it doubled as his debut on Capitol after he walked away from Geffen. He wrote it, produced it and sang it, and played most of it too: acoustic guitar, bass, piano, ukulele and a charango that throws a bright, brittle shimmer over the folk-rock drift. Joey Waronker keeps the drums soft and steady, while Roger Joseph Manning Jr. adds clavinet and harmonies that swell behind the lead.

Rolling Stone's Kory Grow heard echoes of 2002's Sea Change in the melody but found this one lush rather than desolate, and NME's Leonie Cooper rated it among the most captivating songs Beck had written. It went all the way to number one on the Adult Alternative Songs chart, a first for him, and the Grammys nominated it twice at their 57th ceremony, for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.