Moon River

MORRISSEY song
Name	Moon River
Album/single	Hold On To Your Friends
Length	3:19 (Single Version) 9:38 (Extended Version)
Writer/composer	Mancini/Mercer
Producer	Steve Lillywhite
Release	May 1994
Recorded	March 1994

Information

This is a cover of Mancini & Mercer's song that was first written for Audrey Hepburn and the film "Breakfast At Tiffany's" (1961) - subsequently covered by a multitude of artists.

Morrissey is quoted regarding the song via The Independent on the occasion of Mancini's obituary:

'A LOT of the versions one knows are very cabaret-ish, if that's the word, which suits me fine. I'm fond of the Shirley Bassey version, of course, but to me the most familiar recording, the one I grew up with, was Frank Sinatra's which I thought was very sad. But then of course the song is very sad, though that tends to be overlooked in some of the more triumphant recordings of it. It's possible that most people look on it as a sweet, simple lyric and don't dwell upon the words, which are depressing really: 'Moon river . . . I'm crossing you in style someday'. The fulfilment promised in the song is always in the future, so it has this never-finding, ever- reaching feel. It's hard to sing only in the sense that you realise you're more familiar with it than you perhaps thought. And it's a song which our parents knew - it brings a previous generation to mind - which can tend to make you nervous.'

The quote was later made available digitally and was first published in print on June 15, 1994.

A sample of the actress Peggy Evans sobbing is taken from The Blue Lamp (1950).

Lyrics

Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style someday
Oh, dream maker
You heartbreaker
Wherever you're going I'm going your way

Two drifters off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end
Waiting round the bend
My huckleberry friend
Moon river and me

Live History

Play count (Morrissey concert): 18

Morrissey live history:

... further results

Appears On

Wikipedia Information

"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. The song also won the 1962 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. In 1999, Mancini's recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song has been recorded by many other artists. 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. In 2022, Williams' rendition of the song was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress. 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. 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. 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." An inlet near Savannah, Georgia, Johnny Mercer's hometown, was named Moon River in honor of him and this song.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_River

Related Forum Threads

Morrissey A-Z: "Moon River" - Morrissey-solo (Jun 10, 2021)