I’d say I have a rather eclectic taste in music. One day I’m listening to Led Zepplin and the next I’m downloading gospel. I really like the blues and any permutation of style that is a spin-off (like some rock and some gospel).
So last night I was having a glass of wine (Neptune) and Johnny Mathis was singing “Misty” – playing through my iTunes library. I wondered if he was having a Neptune transit when we sang this song, so I got online, did some fast research and printed out a few charts. In mythology Neptune was the god of the seas, so there is the association with water. In astrology, Neptune represents that energy that wants to dissolve, cloud, or distort.
The song “Misty” was written in 1954 by a man named Erroll Garner but didn’t become popular until Johnny Mathis released it in 1959 when it went to #12 on the charts.
Click for Garner's Chart
Erroll Garner was born on June 15, 1921 in Pittsburgh, PA. I was not able to find a birth time so I cast a sunrise chart. The inner wheel is his natal chart and the outer wheel were the transits for 1954.
In Erroll’s natal chart we can see Venus at 9° Taurus is squared by Neptune 11 Leo, and Neptune makes a wide sextile to his ascendent at 23° Gemini. That’s a nice image for someone who gets misty in love.
For all of 1954 transiting Neptune was back and forth around 25° Libra – the exact degree of his natal moon and north node in the fifth house. Transiting Neptune is also making a trine aspect to his ascendent and his midheaven at 29° Aquarius. So it was involved after all.
The man who wrote the lyrics to “Misty” was Johnny Burke, born October 3, 1908 in Antioch, CA (again, sunrise chart used). Neptune in his natal chart is conjunct to the midheaven (Neptune at 17 Cancer) and it opposes his natal moon- Uranus conjunction at 14° and 12° Capricorn, respectively.
Click for Johnny's Chart
Next I turned my attention to Johnny’s chart. He was born on September 30, 1935 in Gilmer, TX. Again, I had no birth time so just used a sunrise chart. In Johnny’s natal chart Mars at 9° Sagittarius makes a square aspect to Neptune at 15° Virgo. . Mars also makes a square aspect to Venus at 6° Virgo.
For all of 1959 transiting Neptune was back and forth around 5-6° Scorpio- conjunct to Johnny’s natal moon at 7° Scorpio and his natal Mercury at 1° Scorpio. Transiting Neptune is also in trine aspect to his midheaven at 6° Cancer and in a sextile aspect to natal Venus.
Here are the lyrics:
Look at me,
I’m as helpless as a kitten up a tree
And I feel like I’m clinging to a cloud
I can’t understand,
I get misty just holding your hand
Walk my way,
And a thousand violins begin to play
Or it might be the sound of your hello
That music I hear,
I get misty the moment you’re near
You can say that you’re leading me on
But it’s just what I want you to do
Don’t you notice how hopelessly I’m lost
That’s why I’m following you
On my own,
Would I wander through this wonderland alone
Never knowing my right foot from my left
My hat from my glove
I’m too misty, and too much in love
Those are clearly Neptunian concepts: helplessness, clinging to a cloud, I get misty, the violins (as a symbol for romantic love), being hopelessly lost, wandering, uncertainty (never knowing my right foot from my left).
So my hunch turned out to be true- Neptune was in integral part of the charts of these men and it can be heard in their music.
