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Currently Playing: Nat King Cole – It’s Only a Paper Moon (Official Lyric Video)

Nat King Cole – It’s Only a Paper Moon (Official Lyric Video) Subscribe to the official Nat King Cole YouTube channel: https://lnk.to/NKCYouTube Watch the official lyric video for Nat King Cole’s performance of "It's Only a Paper Moon," featuring live broadcast audio taken directly from his pioneering 1950s television series, *The Nat King Cole Show*. Originally written in 1933 by composer Harold Arlen alongside lyricists E.Y. Harburg and Billy Rose, the Great American Songbook standard became a cornerstone of Cole's repertoire following a breakthrough 1943 recording with The King Cole Trio for Capitol Records. While that original drumless trio studio master helped transition him from a highly respected Los Angeles jazz instrumentalist into a mainstream pop star, this lyric video highlights a later, dynamic television performance that captures both his effortless vocal phrasing and his enduring piano mastery. Follow Nat King Cole: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@natkingcole Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natkingcolemusic/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natkingcole X: https://twitter.com/natkingcole Website: http://www.natkingcole.com Sign up for the newsletter: https://lnk.to/NKCNewsletter Shop official merch from Nat King Cole at https://natkingcole.com/pages/shop The audio source, *The Nat King Cole Show*, holds a landmark place in American broadcast history. Premiering on NBC in November 1956, the program marked the first time an African American artist hosted a nationally broadcast network television variety show. Though the groundbreaking series ran for just over a year, it captured Cole at the absolute peak of his 1950s traditional pop and vocal jazz era—the same prolific period that yielded defining Capitol releases like *Love Is the Thing* and *After Midnight*. Whether playing in an intimate combo setting or backed by lush orchestrations from frequent collaborator Nelson Riddle, the show served as a prime-time national showcase for Cole's supreme musicality. Throughout its historic NBC run, *The Nat King Cole Show* became a vital platform for classic television and jazz, welcoming a remarkable lineup of musical guests and Hollywood contemporaries. Icons such as Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Eartha Kitt, and Harry Belafonte all appeared on the program to perform and stand in solidarity with the host. By pairing this vintage broadcast audio of "It's Only a Paper Moon" with modern animated typography, this lyric video preserves a vital piece of Cole’s civil rights-era television legacy while introducing one of his signature standards to a new generation of listeners. #NatKingCole #itsonlyapapermoon #officiallyricvideo