Home » Repertoire » Moon River

Moon River is a song with music by Henry Mancini and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s which starred Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. The song was performed by Audrey Hepburn.

In the Grammy awards of 1962 it was awarded best song. The orchestral version of the song was released by Henry Mancini in 1961 and was then covered in the US by Jerry Butler.  Although they charted, neither version was particularly successful. It was released in the UK by Danny Williams and topped the UK singles chart.  The best known version was by Andy Williams who never released the song as a single but it was the title song on his LP Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes.

Johnny Mercer’s lyrics were probably a reminder of his childhood in Savannah, Georgia with its many waterways and memories of picking Huckleberries (related to whortleberries or bilberries) which grew on the river banks.

Our arrangement is by Steve Zegree. A few changes have been made to his arrangement.

Here’s a link to Audrey Hepburn sing it in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and here is Barbra Streisand.

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