Moon River

“Moon River” is a 1961 song, written by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini (you know, that Pink Panther theme guy?). It was featured in the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany‘s at the scene where Audrey Hepburn clumsily pretends to play the guitar and singing the words to “Moon River”.

It was a big hit for Mercer and Mancini and hundreds of musicians have covered this song. I am only including some of the more interesting rendition of this song here. (You can listen to even more Moon River rendition here).

MORRISSEY
The original song is less than two minutes, so it’s quite strange that Morrissey decided to release a NINE FREAKING MINUTES version. I believe there is an edited version of this song available on 7″ or radio promo or something, but I don’t have that handy.

DIVING WITH ANDY
The singer’s French, so it’s cute hearing her say some of the lyrics… much like…

RITA ERIKSEN & EMI FUJITA Same thing as above, only Japanese accent. Listen to her try to say “crossing”. MIA RIDDLE AND HER BAND (aka MARISA RIDDLE) This song is a great closer for any album, unfortunately it’s not on the album artwork displayed. The song is available from her myspace page (you have to scroll down to the last song). ESH No lyrics, just instrumental piano and stuff. There’s plenty of non-lyrics version out there, this one didn’t make me fall asleep.

SARAH VAUGHN She’s a Jazz singer and made “Moon River” to a jazzy tune. KID KOALA It’s actually just him mixing the song. It sounds warped, and it’s probably best if you saw him doing it live via youtube THE DIVINE COMEDY This song is not listed on the second cd “Rarities” off the “A Secret History” Book/CD release. I suspect it’s because they ran out of space, or they never got permission from the license owner… so this song is the last hidden track. Quite fitting too.

The eeriest cover of Moon River can be found in the soundtrack to La Mala Eduacacion.

thedharmablues wrote: Apr 4, 2007 at 4:12 AM

It took me ages to find it but it is uploaded 🙂

It turns out it is more haunting when accompanied by the scene in the film.

I have a cottage on Moon River, and I know the story behind the song… I think it was Harry Mancini who came to Moon River, and met the owner of Moon River Marina…who is the “huckleberry friend” in the song. For any who don’t know, Moon River is apart of Georgian Bay, in Ontario, Canada.

I have a copy of the REM version of Moon River – I’ve posted it up over here

I could have sworn I had a Tiny Tim version but can’t find it.. must have imagined him singing it.

Isie wrote: Apr 21, 2007 at 3:19 PM

I think Audrey’s version is the best. I must have watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s more than ten times and that song will always make me cry. You can watch the video, it’s on YouTube: Audrey Hepburn – Moon River