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"Moon River" is a song composed by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Henry Mancini (music) in 1961, for whom it won that year's Academy Award for Best Original Song. It is most well-known for being sung in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's by Audrey Hepburn, although it has been covered by many other artists.

It became the theme song for Andy Williams, who first recorded the song in 1961 and performed it at the Academy Awards ceremonies in 1962. He sang the first eight bars of the song at the beginning of his television show; he also named his production company and venue in Branson, Missouri after Moon River. Williams' version was vetoed by Cadence president Archie Bleyer, who believed it had little or no appeal to teenagers. Andy Williams' famous version never charted, except as an LP track, which he recorded for Columbia in a hit album of 1962.

The success of the song was responsible for re-launching Mercer's career as a songwriter, which had stalled in the mid-1950s because rock and roll replaced jazz standards as the popular music of the time. An inlet near Savannah, Georgia, Johnny Mercer's hometown, was named Moon River in honor of him and this song. The popularity of the song is such that it has been used as a test sample in a study on people's memories of popular songs.¹

Moon River

Theme of Moon River composed by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer

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Lyrics

Comments about the song have noted that it is particularly reminiscent of Mercer's youth in the Southern United States.²

Music analysis

The original Henry Mancini recording is in F major. The song opens with an instantly recognizable melody - "moon river", featuring the distinctive perfect fifth upward leap from the 5th (C) to the 2nd (G), which is immediately balanced and contrasted by the subsequent graceful step to the tonic (F), before gliding down (as you sail down the river) with four consecutive steps (E-D-C-B♭). Another upward leap follows (F-high E) before the five consecutive steps are repeated again, followed by another leap downwards (C-F) to a step (G). The chord progression is as follows: tonic (F major), sixth (D minor), fourth (B♭ major), tonic (F major), fourth (B♭ major), tonic (F major), seventh (Edim7), major third (A major).

"You dream maker" features many leaps of thirds and fifths; "you dream maker" sees the melody drop from the third to the dominant before leaping to the fifth and dropping to the third; this is repeated in "you heartbreaker". "Wherever you're going, I'm going your way"'s dramatic message is emphasised by the dramatic melody to accompany the lyrics in an arpeggiated tonic chord ascending melody where the third moves to the tonic which moves up the arpeggio into the third, the fifth and lastly, the (octave), creating a nice high climax, before stepping down to the seventh. There is a melodic sequence where the octave-seventh-sixth motive ("going, I'm") is repeated one step lower (seventh-sixth-fifth) ("going your") before moving to the sixth; This is matched by the harmonic sequence as well; where the chord progression moves from Bm-E (a rise of a fourth), repeated a step lower (Am-D), before moving one step lower (Gm-C).

The first part of the melody "moon river" is then repeated in "two drifters", before moving to a coda in "we're after the same rainbow's end" - which features the same arpeggiated tonic chord ascending melody (F-A-C-high F) before moving up and down just like the shape of the rainbow (F-G-F) - an example of word painting - and then moving down to "end" on C (which is matched by the chord F/A), before the "wider than a mile" melody of E-D-C-B♭-C is repeated two times, which is followed by a graceful closure of the song, "moon river, and me" (F-B♭-G-A-F): note the melodic sequence that follows as the interval of a descending third is repeated a step lower again.

Versions

Original

Mercer and Mancini wrote the song for Audrey Hepburn to fit her vocal range. Initially the lyrics started, "I'm Holly, like I want to be / like Holly on a tree back home...", however they were later changed to fit the theme to the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Although an instrumental version is played over the film's opening titles, the lyrics are first heard in a scene where Paul 'Fred' Varjak (George Peppard) discovers Holly Golightly (Hepburn) singing them, accompanied by her guitar, on the fire escape outside their apartments.

There was much behind-the-scenes consternation which erupted when a Paramount Pictures executive suggested deleting the song from the film immediately after a very successful San Francisco preview. Hepburn's reaction has been described by Mancini and others in degrees varying from her saying "over my dead body" to her using somewhat more colorful language to make the same point.

Hepburn's version was not included in the original score album to Breakfast at Tiffany's. Instead an album version recorded by Mancini and his chorus was released as a single and became a number 11 hit. In different versions, Joel Whitburn's "Top Adult (Contemporary) Songs" reported the song as a #3 or #1 easy listening hit, due to unpublished charts in Billboard. Only months after Hepburn's death in 1993 her version was released on an album entitled Music from the Films of Audrey Hepburn.

Recordings

"Moon River" was released by South African singer Danny Williams, and reached the UK number one. Shortly thereafter, Andy Williams recorded the song and made it his theme song. It was a hit for Jerry Butler in 1961, reaching number 11 in the Billboard charts. Other artists that have covered the song are The Afghan Whigs, Benny Anderssons Orkester, Paul Anka, Blake, Louis Armstrong, Vince Guaraldi, Beru Revue, Mary Black, Sarah Brightman, Liz Callaway, Perry Como, Ray Conniff, Bobby Darin, Ania Dąbrowska, Dr. John, Dump, Billy Eckstine, The Four Freshmen, Connie Francis, Bill Frisell (instrumental), Emi Fujita, Judy Garland, Karel Gott, Grant Green (instrumental), Patty Griffin, The Innocence Mission (although this version is sometimes incorrectly cited as being performed by Milla Jovovich), Bradley Joseph (instrumental), Kim Yoo-jin, James Last, Joey McIntyre, Johnny Mathis, Brad Mehldau, Jane Monheit, Morrissey, Patsy Ann Noble, Jim Reeves, John Barrowman, R.E.M., Mia Riddle, Andrea Ross, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Nan Vernon, Kid Koala, Westlife, Victoria Williams, The Divine Comedy, Tata Young, and Christine Collister.

Mercer himself recorded the song in 1974 for his album (appropriately named) My Huckleberry Friend.

Performances

• Mina performed the song in Canzonissima, the Italian Broadcasting Service series of variety.
• Elton John performed the song in his Solo Tour 2003, including the Palais de Festival in Cannes.
• Jennifer Love Hewitt performs the song in the biopic "The Audrey Hepburn Story", in which Hewitt portrays the actress.
• On the singing contest American Idol, Anwar Robinson performed the song during the 2005 season, and Jason Yeager performed the song during the 2008 season.
• Canadian turntablist Kid Koala has performed a live version of "Moon River" as part of his sets, mixing and scratching the song on 3 turntables.
• In the 1996 Hong Kong film Si Mian Xia Wa ('Four Faces of Eve'), a drunken Chinese man in a nightclub attempts to sing a karaoke version of "Moon River". He sings the lyric in English but with a strong Kowloon accent. His pronunciation of "huckleberry friend" sounds very much like "huckerbelly flend".
• Singer/Songwriter Patrick Wolf has also sung the opening four lines live as an introduction to his song 'The Stars'.
• It was sung by Niamh on 'I'd Do Anything'.

Other appearances

• In the hit TV Series Northern Exposure Louis Armstrong's version of "Moon River" is featured during the show "Aurora Borealis, A Fairy Tale for Big People."
• In the TV Series Gossip Girl the instrumental of "Moon River" plays when Blair Waldorf dreams of being in Serena Van Der Woodsen's shadow. The instrumental plays again when Blair finds out Serena is the model that replaced her for the photo shoot of her mother's clothing line.
• In the 1985 film Fletch when the lead character, portrayed by Chevy Chase, starts singing the song as he is given a rectal examination.
• It was used in a 1992 TV advertisement for British building society Nationwide.
• The song makes an appearance in an episode of Family Matters when Steve Urkel sings it to Carl Winslow while the latter is in the hospital after being shot in the bottom.
• In The Simpsons episode "Bart on the Road", it is revealed that Nelson Muntz is an Andy Williams fan. Nelson forces the gang to make a detour to Branson so he can see his idol. The bully is reduced to tears as Williams performs an encore of "Moon River."
• An elevator music version is featured in the 2002 film Minority Report.
• The song is sung in Spanish with a guitar accompaniment by the main character in a pivotal scene of the 2004 film La Mala educación (Bad Education) directed by Pedro Almodóvar.
• The song makes an appearance in the Japanese anime, Honey and Clover. It is Mayama's cell ringtone for when Rika calls and Morita also parodies the tune a couple of times.
• The song was the background music of the hit Korean TV Series Lovers in Paris, where it was always played when the mood of the scenes become dramatic.
• The song was played in a dance sequence involving Prior Walter and Louis Ironson in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Angels in America.
• The Andy Williams version of the song was chosen as the wake-up call on Day 5 of STS-95 for Payload Specialist John Glenn. It was played on Day 2 of the STS-115 mission for Commander Brent Jett.
• The song is played in the 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July during the dance scene between Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) and Donna (Kyra Sedgwick). Later in the film, Ron tells her that it was the most memorable thing he remembers back in high school and proceeds to sing the chorus to her.
• Chris Berman of ESPN sings part of the song often when there is a highlight featuring San Diego Chargers' quarterback Philip Rivers.
• A later Blake Edwards film, Curse of the Pink Panther features the Surete's main computer humming a backwards version of the song as a result of Dreyfus tampering with its programming.
• The video "Moon River" from the debut album of Andrea Ross features the Piscataqua River and was filmed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• The song appears in the Season Four Finale of Sex and the City titled I Heart NY. Mr Big plays the song for Carrie when she stops by one night and she learns he is moving to Napa. He then leaves her the album in case "she gets lonely". The instrumental version of the song is played at the end while Carrie reflects on the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. This is one of many examples people use connecting Carrie to Holly from Breakfast in Tiffany's. It is available on the Sex and the City Official Soundtrack album.
• In the 2006 movie Take the Lead, an instrumental version of "Moon River" can be heard in the background as Antonio Banderas' character (Pierre Dulaine) is dancing in the first four minutes of the movie.
• In 2007, Barney Kessel's "Moon River Cha Cha" is used in a MasterCard commercial named "That would go great with that!" which shows a girl shopping in New York -- including a brief moment of window shopping at, appropriately, Tiffany's.
• Katey Sagal's character Peggy Bundy is seen singing Moon River in an episode of Married With Children.
• The movie Elizabethtown contains a scene where Susan Sarandon's character, a woman who has just been widowed, tap dances at her husband's memorial service as a tribute to his "favorite song to dance to on a Saturday night." The song is also played during the closing credits.
• The book "Shock Wave" by Clive Cussler features the main characters singing the song at many points in the story.
• In the movie Kate and Leopold, Kate (Meg Ryan) and Leopold (Hugh Jackman) listen to the song with a neighbor.
• In the season 5 episode of Gilmore Girls, when Emily and Richard renew their wedding vows, "Moon River" is played in the background when Rory and Logan dance.
• In season 3 of "Cold Case" - ep. "Debut", the song is played several times through the episode, with a vocal version closing the episode.
• Moon River was played at John F. Kennedy's funeral, as it was a favorite song of his.
• In the 1995 film "The Net", Angela Bennett (played by Sandra Bullock) is talking with Jack Devlin (played by Jeremy Northam) about the film "Breakfast At Tiffany's" in which "Moon River" is sung. They both sing the first line to the song together.

References

External links

• Song lyrics
• Andy WIlliams website