Moon River - Audrey Hepburn sang it best
In 1961, Henry Mancini and his friend Johnny Mercer composed the famous song Moon River. It was especially made famous the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s where Audrey Hepburn sang it. Audrey Hepburn was the star of the movie and the song Moon River won the Academy Award that year for Best Song. Mancini and Mercer were thrilled. The success of Moon River was mostly responsible for helping to relaunch Johnny Mercer’s dream of having a songwriting career which came to a halt in the 1950’s when rock and roll started to replace jazz as the popular music at that time.
Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer originally wrote the song Moon River especially for Audrey Hepburn because she had a bit of a limited voice range. Audrey Hepburn was not an accomplished singer or songwriter.
In the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the song Moon River is introduced by Audrey Hepburn during the part where Paul “Fred” Varjak, who was played by George Peppard, finds Holly Golightly (played by Audrey Hepburn) singing with her guitar on the ledge of her apartment during a bad rainstorm.
Audrey Hepburn’s original version of Moon River was not included on the original score album to Breakfast and Tiffany’s. Instead, there was an album version that was recorded by Henry Mancini and his chorus. This was the version that was released as a single and eventually went on to become a Top 40 hit.
In later years, Danny Williams, a South African singer also released it as well where it went to #1 in the United Kingdom. Shortly after this, Andy Williams, an American pop singer from the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s, made the song an even bigger hit in 1962 and even took it a step further by making it his personal theme song. It became one of Andy’s biggest hits for him. There have been many other singers and artists who have also recorded it since then.
Audrey Hepburn passed away in 1993 and it was only months after her death that the original version of Moon River was finally released on an album. Even after the great success of the song with Danny Williams and Andy Williams, Audrey Hepburn’s performance of it is still considered stellar and one of the best in the world. She sings it with a style like nobody else to the very end.
There is an inlet named Moon River near Johnny Mercer’s home town of Savannah, Georgia which was named in honor after this song.
Moon River is a beautiful song and if you have the opportunity to take a listen to it. Search for Audrey Hepburn’s version, it’s totally worth it.