September 26/12

Today we learned that Andy Williams died yesterday, and somehow the media has overlooked his long career to pin his legacy directly to the song "Moon River."  He never recorded or released it as a single.  He sang it at the Academy Awards, if memory serves.  Rest in Peace, Andy.

But this is about the song.

Moon River is just a wonderful song.  Written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, it was the signature song for the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I know Truman Capote was really pissed with the Hollywoodized adaptation of his novel, and in particular with the casting of Audrey Hepburn, but one thing that Blake Edwards got right was the commission of that song.  The tune is wistful and heartbreaking, but then you look at the lyrics, and they are so ambitious and adventurous.

Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style some day
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' 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, waitin' 'round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river, and me.

It would almost seem incongruous, that melody with those lyrics, if not for the story at the heart of Breakfast at Tiffany's--Paul and Holly are two drifters who have experienced loneliness, and have each created a façade (Paul, glib cynicism; Holly, a free spirit) to keep the world at arm's length, but they both want someone to share their journey through uncertainty.

It's a song I love to *try* to sing, but it was commissioned to suit Audrey Hepburn's lower register, and I am a soprano, so the best I can do is to take it up a full octave, and then it just sounds so..."Choral."

Moon River...

...Wish you were here.