Moon River

Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini wrote "Moon River" especially for Audrey Hepburn's vocal talents in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

An album version by Mr. Mancini and his chorus was released as a single and peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Top One Hundred while topping the Easy Listening chart. The authors won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and at the cermony Andy Williams sang the tune. The next year the composers were preseneted with the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

"Moon River" was a hit for the original lead singer of The Impressions, Jerry "The Iceman" Butler, in late 1961. It too hit number eleven on Billboard and number three Easy Listening.

Although Andy Williams never released the song as a single, the singer loved "Moon River". Cadence owner Archie Bleyer wouldn't release it fearing phrases like "huckleberry firend" would be too baffling for young listeners. Andy moved to Columbia and put the tune on the 1962 album "Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes". This album charted for more than three years. Andy Williams sang the song at the opening of every one of his television shows and his Branson venue was named the Moon River Theatre. This standard is probably more associated with him than anyone else.