Moon River

This article is about the song. For other uses, see Moon River (disambiguation).

"Moon River"
Single by Henry Mancini & Orchestra
from the album Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture
B-side"Breakfast at Tiffany's"
ReleasedOctober 1961 (1961)
Recorded1960
StudioRCA Music Center of the World, Hollywood, California
GenreTraditional pop
Length2:41
LabelRCA Victor
Composer(s)Henry Mancini
Lyricist(s)Johnny Mercer
Producer(s)Dick Peirce, Joe Reisman
Audio sample

"Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song.[1] The song also won the 1962 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[2] In 1999, Mancini's recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[3]

The song has been recorded by many other artists.[4] It became the theme song for Andy Williams, who first recorded it in 1962 (and performed it at the Academy Awards ceremony that year). He sang the first eight bars of the song at the beginning of each episode of his eponymous television show and named his production company and venue in Branson, Missouri, after it; his autobiography is called "Moon River" and Me. Williams' version was never released as a single, but it charted as an LP track that he recorded for Columbia on a hit album of 1962, Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes.[5] In 2022, Williams' rendition of the song was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress.[6]

The song's success was responsible for relaunching Mercer's career as a songwriter, which had stalled in the mid-1950s because rock and roll had replaced jazz standards as the popular music of the time. The song's popularity is such that it has been used as a test sample in a study on people's memories of popular songs.[7] Comments about the lyrics have noted that they are particularly reminiscent of Mercer's youth in the southern United States and his longing to expand his horizons.[8] Robert Wright wrote in The Atlantic Monthly, "This is a love sung [sic] to wanderlust. Or a romantic song in which the romantic partner is the idea of romance."[9] An inlet near Savannah, Georgia, Johnny Mercer's hometown, was named Moon River in honor of him and this song.[7]

  1. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 135. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ^ "Moon River by Henry Mancini". songfacts.com.
  3. ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame Award", Recording Academy. Retrieved October 30, 2022
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cryer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Thomas, Bob; Salter, Jim (September 26, 2012). "'Moon River' Crooner Andy Williams Dies at Age 84". Associated Press. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  6. ^ Ulaby, Neda (April 13, 2022). "The Library of Congress is preserving these major historical recordings for posterity". NPR.
  7. ^ a b Bartlett, James C., and Snelus, Paul; Snelus, Paul (September 1980). "Lifespan Memory for Popular Songs". The American Journal of Psychology. 93 (3). University of Illinois Press: 551–560. doi:10.2307/1422730. JSTOR 1422730.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Holden, Stephen (March 30, 1997). "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of Mercer's Lyrics". The New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  9. ^ Wright, Robert. "Andy Williams's Moon River – Decoded and Vindicated at Last!", The Atlantic Monthly, September 27, 2012, accessed January 6, 2016