Moon River
Encyclopedia
"Moon River" is a song composed by Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...

 (lyrics) and Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...

 (music) in 1961, for whom it won that year's Academy Award for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...

. It was originally sung in the movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 Breakfast at Tiffany's by Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...

, although it has been covered by many other artists. The song also won the 1962 Grammy Award for Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....

.

It became the theme song for Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...

, who first recorded it in 1961 and performed it at the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 ceremonies in 1962. He sang the first eight bars at the beginning of his television show
The Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show is a television variety show which ran from 1959 to 1971 , and a short-lived run in syndication, beginning in the fall of 1976...

 and also named his production company and venue in Branson, Missouri
Branson, Missouri
Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....

 after it. Williams' version was disliked by Cadence Records president Archie Bleyer
Archie Bleyer
Archie Bleyer was an American song arranger, bandleader, and record company executive.-Early life:He was born in the Corona section of the New York City borough of Queens. He began playing the piano when he was only seven years old...

, who believed it had little or no appeal to teenagers. Andy Williams' version never charted, except as an LP track, which he recorded for Columbia in a hit album of 1962.

The success of the song was responsible for re-launching Mercer's career as a songwriter, which had stalled in the mid-1950s because rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 replaced jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...

s as the popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

 of the time. An inlet near Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...

, Johnny Mercer's hometown, was named Moon River in honor of him and this song. The popularity of the song is such that it has been used as a test sample in a study on people's memories of popular songs.
Comments about the song have noted that it is particularly reminiscent of Mercer's youth in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

.

Original

Mercer and Mancini wrote the song for Audrey Hepburn to fit her vocal range. Initially, the lyrics started, "I'm Holly, like I want to be / like Holly on a tree back home ..."; however, they were later changed to fit the theme of the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Although an instrumental version is played over the film's opening titles, the lyrics are first heard in a scene where Paul "Fred" Varjak (George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...

) discovers Holly Golightly (Hepburn) singing them, accompanied by her guitar, on the fire escape outside their apartments.

There was an eruption of much behind-the-scenes consternation when a Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 executive suggested deleting the song from the film immediately after a very successful San Francisco preview. Hepburn's reaction was described by Mancini and others in degrees varying from her saying "over my dead body" to her using somewhat more colorful language to make the same point.

Hepburn's version was not included in the original movie soundtrack
Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture
Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack from the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Hepburn. The tracks were composed and conducted by Henry Mancini, except for "Moon River" and "Moon River Cha Cha," which were also composed by Johnny Mercer...

. Instead, an album version recorded by Mancini and his chorus was released as a single and became a number 11 hit. In different versions, Joel Whitburn's "Top Adult (Contemporary) Songs" reported the song as a #3 or #1 easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...

 hit, due to unpublished charts in Billboard. Only months after Hepburn's death in 1993 her version was released on an album titled Music from the Films of Audrey Hepburn.

Recordings

"Moon River" was a hit single for Jerry Butler
Jerry Butler (singer)
Jerry Butler is an American soul singer and songwriter. He is also noted as being the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group, The Impressions, as well as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.Butler is also an American politician...

 in late 1961, reaching number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart in December, two weeks before Mancini's recording reached the same spot. Meanwhile across the Atlantic, South African singer Danny Williams
Danny Williams (musician)
Danny Williams was a South African pop singer. Williams earned the nickname, "Britain's Johnny Mathis", for his smooth and stylish way with a ballad...

 had a hit version of the song that reached number one in the UK in the final week of 1961. Although Andy Williams never released the song as a single, his LP Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes
Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes
Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes is an album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in 1962 by Columbia Records. It made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated May 12 of that year and remained on the album chart for 176 weeks , peaking...

, released in the spring of 1962, was certified Gold in October 1963 for sales of over a million copies. Other artists that have covered the song are Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....

 (instrumental), Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

, Ann Margret in 1962, Jonny Fair
Jonny Fair
Jonny Fair is an American jazz/folk singer, musician, actor and composer. Fair composed and performed the music and acted in the 2007 motion picture Gordon Glass starring Omar Benson Miller...

 (Live), Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...

, Nico Fidenco
Nico Fidenco
Nico Fidenco, artistic name of Domenico Colarossi, , is an Italian singer who gained considerable popularity from 1960 onwards, after the release of the film What a sky, .-45rpm singles:*1960 What a Sky/Su nel cielo RCA Italiana N 1109*1961 Trust Me/Just that Same Old...

 in italian (1962), Joni James
Joni James
Joni James is an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards.-Biography:...

 (1963), Jay and the Americans
Jay and the Americans
Jay and the Americans was a pop music group popular in the 1960s. Their initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane , Kenny Vance and Sandy Deanne , though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black.-Early years:They were...

 (1962), Bobby Solo
Bobby Solo
Bobby Solo is an Italian singer and musician.Solo was born in Rome.In 1964, he participated in the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Una lacrima sul viso" , but he was disqualified for singing with playback which was contrary to the festival regulations. The song, however, became a global hit...

 in italian (1966), The Afghan Whigs
The Afghan Whigs
The Afghan Whigs were a soul-influenced American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. PopMatters described the band as "beyond simple genre categorization, and though lauded by the music press, never got their just due."-Band history:...

, Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...

, Blake
Blake (band)
Blake are a classical vocal quartet. They are widely known as the group who formed on Facebook.They released their debut album "Blake" in November 2007, which won the Album of the Year Award at the Classical BRIT Awards in 2008...

, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

, Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...

, Billy Stewart
Billy Stewart
Billy Stewart was an American musical artist, with a highly distinctive scat-singing style, who enjoyed popularity in the 1960s.-Biography:...

 in 1965, Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...

 in 1965, Vince Guaraldi
Vince Guaraldi
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Guaraldi was an Italian American jazz musician and pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip...

, Beru Revue
Beru Revue
Beru Revue is an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that played that city's club circuitin the 1980s and reunited in 2006. They debuted at Grendel's Lair in Philadelphia on September 6, 1981....

, Mary Black
Mary Black
Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....

, Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...

, Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway is an American actress and singer, famous for providing the singing voices of many female characters in films, such as Anya in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, and Kiara in The Lion King II:Simba's Pride....

, Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...

, Ben E. King
Ben E. King
Benjamin Earl King , better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me", a U.S...

, Ray Conniff
Ray Conniff
Joseph Raymond Conniff was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.-Biography:...

, Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...

, Ania Dąbrowska, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...

, Dump
Dump (band)
Dump is a vehicle for releasing the four-track home recordings of Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew. His recordings occasionally feature guest performers such as Sue Garner and Fontaine Toups...

, Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...

, The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is a multiple Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires , The Pied Pipers , and The Mel-Tones , founded in the barbershop tradition...

, Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...

, Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

 (instrumental), Emi Fujita
Emi Fujita
is a Japanese singer. She debuted as a singer with her husband Ryuji Fujita as the group Le Couple. Their first album was released in 1994. Emi made her solo debut in 2001. Her series of Camomile CDs are covers of popular western songs...

, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...

, Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy
Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"...

 (instrumental in 1962), Karel Gott
Karel Gott
Karel Gott is a Czech Schlager singer, and an amateur painter. He is considered as the most successful male singer in former Czechoslovakia and currently in the Czech Republic; he has being voted the Most Favorite Male Singer in the annual national pool Český slavík in total thirty-six times...

, Grant Green
Grant Green
Grant Green was a jazz guitarist and composer....

 (instrumental), Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...

, The Innocence Mission
The Innocence Mission
The Innocence Mission is an American alternative rock band centered on husband-and-wife singer-songwriters Karen and Don Peris. The original group, including Mike Bitts and Steve Brown , was formed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the early 1980s when the members met during a Catholic school...

 (this version is sometimes incorrectly attributed to actress Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...

), Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and author who performs and records with The Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006 he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.- Early life :Josh...

 in his acoustic session for the website Daytrotter
Daytrotter
Daytrotter is a website for the recording studio Horseshack, which hosts recording sessions with many popular and typically upcoming indie music acts, although it works with local bands in the Illinois area as well. The sessions can be compared to that of a radio station's lounge recordings, where...

, Bradley Joseph
Bradley Joseph
Bradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestra, quartet, and solo piano, while his musical style ranges from "quietly pensive mood music to a rich orchestration of classical depth and breadth".Active...

 (instrumental), Kim Yoo-jin
Kim Yoo-Jin
Kim Yoo-jin , professionally known in English as Eugene, is a singer, actress, and emcee. She was a former member of a Korean female idol group called S.E.S., popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s...

, James Last
James Last
James Last is a German composer and big band leader. His "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and the United Kingdom. His composition, "Happy Heart", became an international success in interpretations by Andy Williams and Petula Clark...

, Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez is an American singer, guitarist and actor.-Career:Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, on Ashland Street in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He began his entertainment career in Dallas playing at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby...

, Lisa Ono
Lisa Ono
Lisa Ono is a popular Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer.- Biography :Lisa Ono was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1962 but moved with her family to Tokyo at the age of 10...

, Joey McIntyre, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...

, Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau is an American jazz pianist. Besides leading his own group, the Brad Mehldau Trio, he has performed with many renowned artists, including Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Larry Grenadier, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Ballard, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Kurt...

, Jane Monheit
Jane Monheit
Jane Monheit is a jazz and adult contemporary vocalist for Concord Records. She has collaborated with artists such as Michael Bublé, Ivan Lins, Terence Blanchard and Tom Harrell, and has received Grammy nominations for two of her recordings.-Early life:Jane Monheit was raised in Oakdale, New York...

, Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

, Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

, Patsy Ann Noble
Trisha Noble
Patricia Ann Ruth "Trisha" Noble is an Australian singer and actress.-Biography:Noble was born in Sydney, Australia. Her father was comedian and singer Buster Noble and her mother was the entertainer Helen De Paul....

, Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader MBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known both for her work with Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards and has topped both the album and singles charts...

, Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...

, John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...

, R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

, Katie Melua
Katie Melua
Ketevan "Katie" Melua is a British-Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003...

, Andrea Ross
Andrea Ross
Andrea Christine Ross is an American singer and actress. She has been an award-winning lead actress on stage in her local area of Boston, Massachusetts since the age of eight years old...

, Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...

, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...

, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, The Killers, Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

 for The Movie Album
The Movie Album
The Movie Album is the 60th album released by Barbra Streisand. The album is made up of 12 songs newly recorded by Streisand which were previously featured in films.- Track listing :...

(2003), Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

, Nan Vernon
Nan Vernon
Nan Vernon is a Canadian singer and actress". She is notable for providing the end credit music of both of Rob Zombie's Halloween films and for being part of the "singer-songwriter trend" of women nurturing folk music's rebirth.-Early career:The Eurythmic's Dave Stewart discovered Vernon...

, Kid Koala
Kid Koala
Eric San , who records under the name Kid Koala, is a Canadian DJ, turntablist, musician and an author of graphic novels. He is signed to the British record label Ninja Tune, is a member of alternative hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030, and The Slew with Dynamite D and former members of the...

, Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

, Victoria Williams
Victoria Williams
Victoria Williams is an American singer-songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. She is noted for her descriptive songwriting talent, which she has used to immerse the listener of her songs into a...

, The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy (band)
The Divine Comedy are a chamber pop band from Ireland, fronted by Neil Hannon. Formed in 1989, Hannon has been the only constant member of the group, playing, in some instances, all of the non-orchestral instrumentation bar drums. To date, ten studio albums have been released under the Divine...

, Tata Young
Tata Young
Amita Marie Young , better known under her stage name Tata Young, is a Thai singer, model actress and dancer....

, Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...

 (2010), Helmut Lotti
Helmut Lotti
Helmut Lotti , is a Flemish Belgian tenor and singer-songwriter. Lotti performs in several styles and languages: Once an Elvis impersonator, he has sung African and Latino hit records, and he crossed over into classical music in the 1990s.-Life and music:The son of Luc Lotigiers and Rita Lagrou,...

, Chiara Civello
Chiara Civello
Chiara Civello , is a singer-songwriter, and pianist. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, she is currently based in New York City. She received the Boston Jazz Society Award and the Cleo Laine Award while still studying in Berklee.- Notes :...

, Christine Collister
Christine Collister
Christine Collister is a Manx folk, blues and jazz singer-songwriter. She was born and grew up on the Isle of Man and first came to public attention in 1986 as the singer of the theme song for the BBC's television adaptation of Fay Weldon's book The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.Prior to this, in...

, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...

 (solo piano), Hirai Ken, Rumer
Rumer (musician)
Rumer is the professional name of the British female singer-songwriter Sarah Joyce . Her stage name was inspired by the author Rumer Godden. Rumer's voice has been described by The Guardian as being reminiscent of Karen Carpenter...

, Kazumasa Oda
Kazumasa Oda
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, composer and is also known as the leader of the folk rock band Off Course.As a vocalist and leader of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 70s and 80s. He and Yasuhiro Suzuki were important composers in the band...

 from his 1988 album "Between the Word and the Heart", and Khalil Fong
Khalil Fong
Khalil Fong was born on 14 July 1983. He is an American born, Hong Kong-based soul Mandopop singer-songwriter signed to the Warner Music Hong Kong.-Biography:...

.

Mercer himself recorded the song in 1974 for his album My Huckleberry Friend
My Huckleberry Friend
"...My Huckleberry Friend": Johnny Mercer Sings the Songs of Johnny Mercer is an album by singer/composer Johnny Mercer, released in 1974....

.

In 2007, saxophonist Dave Koz
Dave Koz
Dave Koz is an American smooth jazz saxophonist.- Life and career :Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Encino, California....

 recorded a version from his standards music album, At the Movies. The song featured Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...

 on vocals.

Clay Aiken
Clay Aiken
Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and author who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released...

 recorded the song on his 2010 album Tried and True
Tried and True
Tried and True is the fifth full length studio album released by Clay Aiken on June 1, 2010. This album is Aiken's first release on the Decca label. The deluxe edition includes two additional tracks plus a second disk with behind the scenes video and a live performance.-Background:The songs on...

. Aiken's version features a guitar solo by country artist Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

.

Performances

  • Mina
    Mina (singer)
    Anna Maria Quaini, Grand Officer , known as Mina, is an Italian pop singer. She was a staple of Italian television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s known for her three-octave vocal range, the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an...

     performed the song in Canzonissima, the Italian Broadcasting Service
    RAI
    RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...

     series of variety.
  • Elton John
    Elton John
    Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

     performed the song in his Solo Tour 2003, including the Palais de Festival in Cannes.
  • Jennifer Love Hewitt
    Jennifer Love Hewitt
    Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer, television director and former singer-songwriter. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated...

     performs the song in the biopic The Audrey Hepburn Story
    The Audrey Hepburn Story
    The Audrey Hepburn Story is a 2000 television movie biography of actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who also produced the film, starred as the actress although her casting drew criticism from some of Hepburn's fans and the media...

    , in which Hewitt portrays the actress.
  • On the singing contest American Idol
    American Idol
    American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

    , Anwar Robinson
    Anwar Robinson
    Anwar Farid Robinson is an American singer/songwriter/musician who was the 7th place finalist on the fourth season of American Idol.-American Idol:...

     performed the song during the 2005 season, and Jason Yeager performed the song during the 2008 season.
  • Canadian turntablist Kid Koala
    Kid Koala
    Eric San , who records under the name Kid Koala, is a Canadian DJ, turntablist, musician and an author of graphic novels. He is signed to the British record label Ninja Tune, is a member of alternative hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030, and The Slew with Dynamite D and former members of the...

     has performed a live version of "Moon River" as part of his sets, mixing and scratching the song on 3 turntables.
  • In the 1996 Hong Kong film Si Mian Xia Wa ('Four Faces of Eve'), a drunken Chinese man in a nightclub attempts to sing a karaoke
    Karaoke
    is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...

     version of "Moon River". He sings the lyric in English but with a strong Kowloon accent. His pronunciation of "huckleberry friend" sounds very much like "huckerbelly flend".
  • Singer/songwriter Patrick Wolf
    Patrick Wolf
    Patrick Wolf is an English-Irish singer-songwriter from South London. Patrick utilises a wide variety of instruments in his music, most commonly the ukulele, piano and viola...

     has also sung the opening four lines live as an introduction to his song "The Stars".
  • It was sung by Niamh on I'd Do Anything
    I'd Do Anything (BBC TV series)
    I'd Do Anything is a 2008 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and broadcast on BBC One. It premièred on 15 March 2008...

    .
  • On the 2003 show, American Juniors, the song was performed by 11 year old contestant, Chauncey Matthews
    Chauncey Matthews
    Chauncey Matthews is an American singer who was a member of the short-lived pop group, American Juniors as well as being the only male in the group. He was born and raised in San Diego, California. He has a younger sister, Victoria Matthews. His mother is Gwendolyn Matthews...

    .
  • In 2009, fashion designer Malan Breton
    Malan Breton
    Malan Breton is a Taiwanese born fashion designer, costumer, columnist, producer & media personality, Based in New York City. "Malan Breton" also refers to his brands of apparel, jewelry, and accessories.- Life and career :...

     of Project Runway
    Project Runway
    Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...

     Season 3 performed the song live at a dedication ceremony to Johnny Mercer's 100th.
  • Eric Clapton
    Eric Clapton
    Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

     performed the song at the London O2 Arena on February 13 and 14 and at Madison Square Garden in New York on February 17 and 18 of 2010 as part of his shows with fellow guitar great Jeff Beck
    Jeff Beck
    Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

    .
  • Morrissey
    Morrissey
    Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

     occasionally performs the song in concert performances, changing the lyrics slightly and adding sound effects in the background.
  • Ryuichi Kawamura
    Ryuichi Kawamura
    is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor and record producer. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea. After the group disbanded in 2000, Ryuichi went on to a successful solo career. In 2005 he formed Tourbillon with, fellow Luna Sea member, Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama...

    , the vocalist of the Japanese rock band Luna Sea
    Luna Sea
    Luna Sea is a rock band from Kanagawa, Japan, formed in 1989. The band was initially founded by bassist J and rhythm guitarist Inoran, when they were in high school. They soon recruited lead guitarist and violinist Sugizo, drummer Shinya and vocalist Ryuichi, a lineup that has remained the same...

     covered the song in his album, The Voice, released on March 16, 2011.
  • Covered by The Killers during their headline performance at Hard Rock Calling 2011 in Hyde Park London on 24th June 2011, it was played immediately after their song A Dustland Fairytale
    A Dustland Fairytale
    "A Dustland Fairytale" is a song by American rock band The Killers. The song is about frontman Brandon Flowers' parents.-Background:The cover art for the single is a portrait of the band's bassist Mark Stoermer, and is one of the four portraits drawn by Paul Normansell for the album.-Release:The...

    , in which Moon River is mentioned.

Other appearances

  • In the film, Breakfast at Tiffany's
    Breakfast at Tiffany's
    Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 romantic comedy film starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, and featuring Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney. The film was directed by Blake Edwards and released by Paramount Pictures...

     the song is played a number of times, twice instrumental only and once with lyrics.
  • In Episode 3.4 of the situation comedy Cheers
    Cheers
    Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...

    , the version of the song sung by Andy Williams
    Andy Williams
    Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...

     can be heard on the tape played by Sam.
  • In the TV series Northern Exposure
    Northern Exposure
    Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...

    Louis Armstrong's version of "Moon River" is featured during the show "Aurora Borealis, A Fairy Tale for Big People".
  • In the TV series Gossip Girl
    Gossip Girl (TV series)
    Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...

    the instrumental of "Moon River" plays when Blair Waldorf
    Blair Waldorf
    Blair Cornelia Waldorf is the main character of Gossip Girl, introduced in the original series of novels and also appearing in their television and manga adaptations. Described as "a girl of extremes" by creator Cecily von Ziegesar, she is a comical overachiever who possesses both snobbish and...

     dreams of being in Serena Van Der Woodsen's
    Serena van der Woodsen
    Serena Celia van der Woodsen is a fictional character in the young adult novel series Gossip Girl and its television adaptation. Serena is featured on the blog of the novel series' mysterious "Gossip Girl" narrator...

     shadow, and when Blair finds out Serena is the model that replaced her for the photo shoot of her mother's clothing line.
  • In the 1985 film Fletch
    Fletch (film)
    Fletch is a 1985 comedy film about a wisecracking investigative newspaper reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher , who writes under the name of Jane Doe...

    when the lead character, portrayed by Chevy Chase, starts singing the song as he is given a rectal examination.
  • The song makes an appearance in an episode of Family Matters
    Family Matters (TV series)
    Family Matters is an American sitcom about a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago, Illinois, which ran on national television for nine full seasons. The series was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers, but revolves around the Winslow family...

    when Steve Urkel
    Steve Urkel
    Steven Quincy Urkel, generally known as Steve Urkel or simply Urkel, is a fictional character on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters, portrayed by Jaleel White...

     sings it to Carl Winslow
  • The song has appeared three times on The Simpsons
    The Simpsons
    The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

    : once on the season seven episode "Bart on the Road
    Bart on the Road
    "Bart on the Road" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 31, 1996. In the episode, Bart makes his own fake driver's license. He rents a car with it and takes Milhouse, Martin, and Nelson on a road trip to...

    " in the sequence where Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, and Martin travel to Branson, Missouri and Nelson forces Bart to stop at an Andy Williams concert where Williams sings Moon River, again in the chapter "Smart and Smarter
    Smart and Smarter
    "Smart and Smarter" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season, and originally aired on February 22, 2004. When Maggie takes an IQ test, she is informed that she may be smarter than Lisa, who worries that her life will go nowhere. The episode was written by Carolyn Omine and...

    " in season fifteen when Lisa stays one night in the Springfield Natural History Museum after she runs away from home, and a third time on the season 21 episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield
    Once Upon a Time in Springfield
    "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons twenty-first season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 10, 2010. It was promoted as the 450th episode of the series, but is actually the 451st, and aired alongside The Simpsons 20th...

    " where, after Krusty dumps Penelope (Anne Hathaway
    Anne Hathaway (actress)
    Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...

    ) at the altar, Penelope moves to Paris, France and performs a sad, guitar rendition of Moon River for cafe patrons.
  • The song was played twice on the situation comedy Frasier
    Frasier
    Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...

    twice. The first time was on the season 1 episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast
    Frasier (season 1)
    The first season of Frasier originally aired between September 1993 and May 1994, beginning on September 16, 1993.-Reception:Frasier ranked 7th in the seasonal ratings with an average 15,825,600 watching the show.-List of episodes:...

    " (1994), in which the tune of the song is played while Frasier tries to convince one of his listeners to reconcile with his father, and he later hums the tune to himself. The second time is on the season 11 episode "SeaBee Jeebies
    Frasier (season 11)
    The 11th and final season of the American situation comedy television series Frasier originally aired between September 2003 and May 2004, beginning on September 23, 2003....

    " (2003), in which the botched award ceremony culminates with Frasier singing the Seabies' song to the tune of Moon River.
  • The song was the background music
    Background music
    Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...

     of the hit Korean TV series Lovers in Paris
    Lovers In Paris
    Lovers in Paris is a South Korean television drama series broadcast by SBS in the summer of 2004. The show won numerous awards including best television drama at the Baeksang Arts Awards and both Park Shin-yang and Kim Jung-eun were awarded the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards.It is the first...

    , where it was always played when the mood of the scenes become dramatic.
  • The song was played in a dance sequence involving Prior Walter and Louis Ironson in the Pulitzer Prize
    Pulitzer Prize
    The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

     winning play Angels in America
    Angels in America
    Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...

    .
  • The Andy Williams version of the song was chosen as the wake-up call on Day 5 of STS-95
    STS-95
    STS-95 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998. It was the 25th flight of Discovery and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program in April 1981. It was a highly publicized mission due to former Project Mercury...

     for Payload Specialist John Glenn
    John Glenn
    John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...

    . It was played on Day 2 of the STS-115
    STS-115
    Note:The P3/P4 Truss segment and batteries were so heavy that the crew count was reduced from seven to six.-Crew notes:...

     mission for Commander Brent Jett
    Brent W. Jett, Jr.
    Brent Ward Jett, Jr. is a NASA astronaut.-Personal data:Born October 5, 1958, in Pontiac, Michigan, but considers Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to be his hometown. Married to Janet Leigh Lyon of Patuxent River, Maryland.-Education:...

    .
  • The song is played in the 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July
    Born on the Fourth of July (film)
    Born on the Fourth of July is a 1989 American film adaptation of the best selling autobiography of the same name by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic. Tom Cruise plays Kovic, in a performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Oliver Stone co-wrote the screenplay with Kovic, and also...

    during the dance scene between Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise
    Tom Cruise
    Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

    ) and Donna (Kyra Sedgwick
    Kyra Sedgwick
    Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...

    ). Later in the film, Ron tells her that it was the most memorable thing he remembers back in high school and proceeds to sing the chorus to her.
  • The Blake Edwards film, Curse of the Pink Panther
    Curse of the Pink Panther
    Curse of the Pink Panther is a 1983 comedy film, the eighth installment of the The Pink Panther series of films started by Blake Edwards in the early 1960s....

    features the Sûreté's main computer humming a backwards version of the song as a result of Dreyfus tampering with its programming.
  • The video "Moon River" from the debut album of Andrea Ross
    Andrea Ross
    Andrea Christine Ross is an American singer and actress. She has been an award-winning lead actress on stage in her local area of Boston, Massachusetts since the age of eight years old...

     features the Piscataqua River
    Piscataqua River
    The Piscataqua River, in the northeastern United States, is a long tidal estuary formed by the confluence of the Salmon Falls and Cocheco rivers...

     and was filmed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
    Portsmouth, New Hampshire
    Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...

    .
  • The Andy Williams version of the song appears in the season four finale of Sex and the City
    Sex and the City
    Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...

    titled "I Heart NY". This is one of many examples people use connecting Carrie to Holly from Breakfast in Tiffany's and is available on the Sex and the City Official Soundtrack album.
  • "Moon River" was played at John F. Kennedy's funeral.
  • In the 1978 film The Deer Hunter
    The Deer Hunter
    The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...

    , it's played for some of the dances in the wedding scenes.
  • In the 1995 film The Net, Angela Bennett (played by Sandra Bullock
    Sandra Bullock
    Sandra Annette Bullock is an Academy Award winning American actress and producer who rose to fame in the 1990s after roles in successful films such as Demolition Man, Speed, The Net, A Time to Kill, and While You Were Sleeping. She continued with films such as Miss Congeniality, The Lake House,...

    ) is talking with Jack Devlin (played by Jeremy Northam
    Jeremy Northam
    Jeremy Philip Northam is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Ivor Novello in the 2001 film Gosford Park, as Dean Martin in the 2002 television movie Martin and Lewis, and as Thomas More on the Showtime series The Tudors...

    ) about the film Breakfast At Tiffany's in which "Moon River" is sung. They both sing the first line to the song together.
  • In the 2001 film Kate & Leopold
    Kate & Leopold
    Kate & Leopold is a 2001 romantic-comedy fantasy that tells a story of a duke who travels through time from New York in 1876 to the present and falls in love with a career woman in the modern New York...

    , Kate (Meg Ryan
    Meg Ryan
    Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...

    ) and Leopold (Hugh Jackman
    Hugh Jackman
    Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...

    ) listen to the song with a neighbor.
  • An elevator music
    Elevator music
    Elevator music refers to instrumental arrangements of popular music designed for playing in shopping malls, grocery stores, department stores, telephone systems , cruise ships, airports, doctors' and dentists' offices, and elevators...

     version is featured in the 2002 film Minority Report
    Minority Report (film)
    Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C...

    .
  • In 2002 Carrie Bradshaw
    Carrie Bradshaw
    Carrie Preston is the fictional narrator and lead character of the HBO sitcom/drama Sex and the City, portrayed by actress Sarah Jessica Parker. She is a semi-autobiographical character created by Candace Bushnell, who published the book Sex and the City, based on her own columns in the New York...

     and Mr. Big
    Mr. Big (Sex and the City)
    "Mr. Big" is a fictional character in the HBO series Sex and the City, portrayed by Chris Noth. The character's name is mentioned in the pilot episode but not used throughout the series until the last episode, when his first name is shown on Carries mobile. His full name is John James Preston...

     danced to this song in episode 18 of Season 4 of Sex and the City
    Sex and the City
    Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...

    .
  • In 2003, "Moon River" instrumental was played in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days when Philip wanted to find out whether Andie has feelings for Benjamin.
  • The song is sung in Spanish with a guitar accompaniment by the main character in a pivotal scene of the 2004 film La Mala educación (Bad Education
    Bad Education
    Bad Education is a 2004 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar and starring Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Daniel Giménez Cacho and Lluís Homar. The plot is about two reunited childhood friends in the vein of a murder mystery...

    ) directed by Pedro Almodóvar
    Pedro Almodóvar
    Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...

    .
  • In the 2004 film Shall We Dance
    Shall We Dance? (2004 film)
    Shall We Dance? is a 2004 American film. It is a remake of the award-winning Masayuki Suo 1996 Japanese film, Shall We Dance?. The film made its US premier at the Hawaii International Film Festival.-Plot:...

    the song "Moon River" is played when one of the main characters (played by Jennifer Lopez
    Jennifer Lopez
    Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

    ) is giving a dance demonstration
  • The 2005 film Elizabethtown
    Elizabethtown (film)
    Elizabethtown is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Alec Baldwin has a small role as a CEO of an athletic shoe company and Susan Sarandon appears as a grieving widow...

    contains a scene where Susan Sarandon's character tap dances at her husband's memorial service as a tribute to his "favorite song to dance to on a Saturday night." The song is also played during the closing credits.
  • In the 2006 film Take the Lead
    Take the Lead
    Take the Lead is a movie starring Antonio Banderas, Rob Brown, Alfre Woodard, Dante Basco, Marcus T. Paulk, Jenna Dewan, Lauren Collins and also features former America's Next Top Model contestant, Yaya DaCosta. The film was released in mainstream cinema on April 7, 2006...

    , an instrumental version of "Moon River" can be heard in the background as Antonio Banderas
    Antonio Banderas
    José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...

    ' character (Pierre Dulaine
    Pierre Dulaine
    Pierre Dulaine is a well-known ballroom dancer and dance instructor. He invented the Dulaine method of teaching dance. He also developed Dancing Classrooms, a social development program for 5th grade children that uses ballroom dancing as a vehicle to change the lives of the children and their...

    ) is dancing in the first four minutes of the movie.
  • In the season 5 episode of Gilmore Girls
    Gilmore Girls
    Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...

    , when Emily and Richard renew their wedding vows, "Moon River" is played in the background when Rory and Logan dance.
  • In season 3 of Cold Case - ep. "Debut", the song is played several times through the episode, with a vocal version closing the episode.
  • In 2010, a series of joint concerts by Jeff Beck
    Jeff Beck
    Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

     and Eric Clapton
    Eric Clapton
    Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

    , the song was played as an encore number with Beck playing the melody on the guitar and then Clapton singing the lyrics.
  • The instrumental can be heard playing during the Glee
    Glee (TV series)
    Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

     episode "New York"
    New York (Glee)
    "New York" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the second season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 44th overall. The episode was written and directed by series creator Brad Falchuk, filmed in part on location in New York City, and first aired on May 24, 2011 on...

    , while Rachel and Kurt are having breakfast in front of Tiffany & Co.
    Tiffany & Co.
    Tiffany & Co. is an American jewelry and silverware company. As part of its branding, the company is strongly associated with its Tiffany Blue , which is a registered trademark.- History :...

    , paying tribute to Breakfast at Tiffany's.

See also

  • Moon River
    Moon River (radio program)
    Moon River was a long-running late-night American radio program which originated from WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. A combination of soft, "dreamy" music and romantic poetry set to organ accompaniment, the program aired from 1930 to 1972.-History:...

    radio program
  • List of number-one singles from the 1960s (UK)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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