Moon River

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a song not mentioned enough. known by all, of course, but, mentioned little...who does your favourite version?

― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

The Beatles.

― David. (Cozen), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

MORRISSEY!

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

(of course NOT morrissey ... god, what the hell was he thinking?)

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Audrey Hepburn.

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

As yet, no one has recorded a perfect version of this song. Or is that 'Send In The Clowns?'

― Ally C (Ally C), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Jerry Butler does a decent one, but my favourite would be either Willie Nelson's or Oscar Toney Jr's. However, Nelson Muntz to thread!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Chevy Chase

― bnw (bnw), Sunday, 10 August 2003 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not much of a Brad Mehldau fan, but I like his. And then there's that SATC episode where Big leaves NYC.

(isn't this sposed to be next door?)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 10 August 2003 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)

R.E.M. has done nice versions of this live, but their recorded version is ass.

― Chris P (Chris P), Monday, 11 August 2003 01:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Greg Dulli/Afghan Whigs - Going to Town b side. He recorded it for his mother, and it's lovely.

― Jamie Conway (Jamie Conway), Monday, 11 August 2003 06:38 (twenty-two years ago)

It's either lovely or hilarious, depending on where you're standing.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 11 August 2003 06:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Audrey Hepburn doesn;t sing it in the film. You don't have to watch too closely to see the bad dubbing.

I'd love to hear Cowboy Junkies do it.

― Diggory Venn, Monday, 11 August 2003 09:28 (twenty-two years ago)

AFAIK, the only version I've heard is by Danny Williams.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 11 August 2003 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

greyhound did a great version on trojan records years back...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 11 August 2003 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Audrey Hepburn doesn;t sing it in the film. You don't have to watch too closely to see the bad dubbing.

It might've been dubbed in, but she's the one singing it. There was a lot of in-house controversy about it at the time, for that reason.

It was Mancini's favorite version, though.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 11 August 2003 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Mancini don't know shit.

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 11 August 2003 13:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, there isn't really a definitive version of this. The hit was Andy Williams right?

It's a lovely song. Cowboy Junkies is a good call. Did Elvis do this? He should have.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

It's probably his favorite version because he wrote it for her; so any other would sound off.

It's my favorite version cause I'm sure I'd heard the song before seeing the movie, just because it seems unlikely that I hadn't -- but I don't remember doing so, and I'd never noticed it. In the movie, it works. It's awkward and strained, and it works. When it's done better than that, it's like someone straightening my pictures.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 11 August 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I always thought this would be good as solo voice + ukelele. Minus the bathetic chorus.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I read recently that Mercer originally wanted to call the song Blue River, but discovered there was already a song by that name and had to change it. I don't think I would like the song so much if it were called 'Blue River'.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 11 August 2003 13:21 (twenty-two years ago)

It's certainly more literal. "Blue river, wider than a mile...."

This song has that nice diminished chord, it's classy like a bow tie. Mmmmmm.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, it's something about the chords that cuts me to the marrow. It has all kinds of evocations for me.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Thinking about this song, like many things, makes me think about the Simpsons, specifically the episode where Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, and the annoying kid go on the road trip with the fake driver's license and Nelson makes them stop in Branson, Missouri to go see Andy Williams, and they pan by the boys faces, and they're all bored stiff except for Nelson, who's in rapture, and then when Andy finishes Moon River, and Nelson's like "Oh wow, I didn't think he would sing Moon River, but then, bam, second encore!"

I am such a dork.

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to hear built to spill cover it.

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

but yeah the audrey hepburn version is the best of the ones that actually do exist, I think.

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

i am somewhat disappointed that peoples favourite versions of this appear to be by indierock bands

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Not me! But that could have been predicted.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was little, we had a Mancini tape and Moon River was my favorite track. I thought it was painfully romantic and I hadn't even seen Breakfast at Tiffany's yet.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i have never seen breakfast at tiffanys. when i started this thread i was unaware it was in that film

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 11 August 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I have never seen breakfast at tiffany's but I thought everyone knew it was in that film.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

You should see it. It's good. It has really lovely cinematography.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, and some woman named Audrey Hepburn.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

And that dude from the A-Team.

See the film before you read the book, but read the book too.

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

That Mickey Rooney cameo as the Japanese neighbor is k-unfortunate.

There's something icky and decadent and overripe about the film, but I still like it.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

One reason this song is so popular is that it's really easy to sing. Try it!

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Aye... the Rooney stuff is wince-worthy. But if one reads the book after seeing the movie then they get to sigh with relief on that point.

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The Philistines Jr's version is my favourite.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

It is easy to sing! My new favorite version of this song is by ME!

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Mickey Rooney is so horrible in that moviie. And I'm not the world's biggest George Peppard fan either. Though Hepburn is of course lovely. I like the book.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

It's good to see the movie and then read the book, so you can imagine Holly Golightly as Audrey Hepburn.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I also recommended seeing the movie first because, well, the book is better, but the movie is worth seeing.

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)

From AMG:

"The purest way to experience the melody might be in its mostly instrumental form as Mancini's original orchestral theme for the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Over a quietly lush backing of strings, George Fields plays the distinctive tune on harmonica for the first verse, followed by strings in harmony for the second, finished by a pop, male-female vocal ensemble for the final verse. With this recording, the melody is well established on its own before Johnny Mercer's classic lyric has a chance to offer further emotional cues."

This is the version that I think of when I think of the song. I love that vocal ensemble -- it's so over-the-top and great!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

And now imagine her as Marilyn Monroe (first choice for the part)...

It's not my favourite Audrey Hepburn film, largely because of Mickey Rooney probably. That'd be Funny Face.

On the original question, I may agree with Jamie.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't get over how bad Mickey Rooney is in that movie. What an embarrasment. "MISS GORIGHTRY I MUST PLOTEST!"

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Mickey Rooney kills so much of the movie -- not that he's in it much, but in that every time he shows up he just ruins the moment -- but the party scenes are soooo classic. And I'm not sure if it's my favorite Audrey Hepburn movie (Charade, Two for the Road, Sabrina, Funny Face...), but I think it's my favorite Audrey performance.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a double tragedy that another film I love, Sixteen Candles, is also marred forever by a comedy Oriental.

I love it at the party when Holly shouts 'TIMBER!'

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

(With apologies for still encouraging Audrey to derail this thread)

Roman Holiday

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Exactly, the "TIMBER!" scene ... and the eyepatch-flip so the guy can make his point more sternly ... and etc.

Roman Holiday is maybe my favorite genuine romantic comedy (i.e. I don't quite count Breakfast at Tiffany's or The Graduate as r.c.s)

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

... why the hell don't I have this movie on DVD? Probably because I got the video boxed set for a birthday before there were DVDs and it seems a shame to replace.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Audrey is like a Givenchy clothes horse in the film, but it's still lovely. I prefer it to the book and even Capote said he appreciated the movie version.

The Moon River scene on the balcony is beautiful.

― G Man, Monday, 11 August 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Least favourite Audrey Hepburn movie: Love in the Afternoon

(though I haven't seen "They All Laughed...")

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Over the top? Maybe by today's standards. It's pretty much straight easy listening for the early sixties. The harmonica part is great. I think one of the things this song taps into is this super-glossiness trying to find its way into some kind of cornpone authenticity.

I don't feel too strongly about Audrey Hepburn (she famously looks like a stray feather would knock her over), but My Fair Lady and Funny Face are great. I need to see Two for the Road.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't really like Audrey Hepburn, so I don't really like this movie.

I like the version of "Moon River" on Hammond Hits from Hollywood.

― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

how can you not like audrey hepburn - are you mental?

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not so sure about the "Pipes that you see, pipes that you don't" version.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

the party is one of the great scenes ever (so much so that he had to turn it into a separate movie, blah blah). amst otm re harmonica v. chorus and the cinematography. also, martin balsam. and "irving".

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Over the top? Maybe by today's standards. It's pretty much straight easy listening for the early sixties.

Yeah, but that chorus is so sweeping and full of life: maybe that's what I mean. I do love those mixed-vocal choruses in pop songs: when did they go out of style? After disco?

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Dear Norah Jones,

Pls do not record this.

Thanx,
gabbneb

(tho I heard an interview w/ her this weekend, and she seems nice, and her speaking voice, freed of all that stylization, is somewhat attractive. sorry to be even more offtopic.)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

(Norah Jones is k-cute and -charming. That is all.)

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

(But yes, neither her nor Cassandra Wilson shd record this song. They'd lugube the life out of it.)

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

(ok, I'll accept that CW would be at least a risky proposition)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

norah jones is wonderfully nice and down to earth. And she came to our friends' dinky ass show at a bar in the Mission so she rules. I think she would know better than to record this song.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 11 August 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't feel too strongly about Audrey Hepburn (she famously looks like a stray feather would knock her over)

jeez, you could knock ME over with a feather after reading two Audrey-disdaining posts in a row! AH was in at least four films I like more than Breakfast at Tiffany's (Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Two For the Road and Charade) (with Funny Face I get distracted by the age difference between AH and Astaire: only good thing abt Peppard in Tiffany's = at least he's not 30 years older than her!!) That said, despite how embarrassing the Mickey Rooney scenes are (haha Pauline Kael said this was the only thing she liked in the movie), Hepburn's performance in this film may be her best. It's easy to forget now that she's universally identified with the role but at the time this wasn't a typical AH film role at all: she was known for playing princesses and naive innocents, not call girls. I can't watch it with other people in the room: for some reason the last scene never fails to reduce me to tears (what can I say, I'm a sucker for unlikely happy endings - see also The Apartment).

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Good to see the Two For the Road love, I think of that as the one everyone overlooks (many people don't seem to have even heard of it). Of course, it's also the non-Audrey-type role (and non-Audrey-type plot), but in a very different way than BAT.

I'm not positive I see the ending of BAT as happy, but I'm the same way about The Graduate (and in both cases, it's what I like about the movies).

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

last scenes of both BAT and the Apt almost ruin both movies - way too overdone, or the turnabouts too sudden and therefore too improbable (though the last line of the Apt and its delivery are undeniable)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Agree about Tiffany's, not about The Apartment.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

See, how does overdone not work for BAT, though? The characters are complete drama queens -- that's the life they want to lead, the overly dramatic one!

(Likewise, see The Graduate, where the ending is happy only insofar as the characters want a traditional-on-the-surface relationship, but only if it has a wacky backstory to it; the "I look like a soccer mom but I've got a violet wand in the bedroom" syndrome.)

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

(At least that's how I've always seen it; there are certainly other ways to look at The Graduate.)

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Audrey was fab, and add me to the love for Two for the Road. It is probably the least seen of her films, most ppl i know have never even heard of it.

it was always my dream to give a party like the one in Breakfast at Tiffanys

― H (Heruy), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I am not sure whether I would like the song so much were it called 'Red River'.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 12 August 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

what about

http://www.bevnet.com/images/reviews/greenriver/greenriver.jpg

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Just looking at the bottle makes me cough.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to meet the world's biggest George Peppard fan.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 17:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Well on me you shouldn't count.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 21:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I've never not loved George Peppard in anything, but I don't think I've seen him in anything but Breakfast at Tiffany's, The A-Team, and How the West Was Won.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 21:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't forget The Carpetbaggers!! (Plus, it has Carroll Baker) And Banacek!

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't seen The Carpetbaggers, so can't forget it :/ Banacek, though! I'm a bag of dumb. And, further dumb: Damnation Alley, for heaven's sake.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 12 August 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Two for the Road is excellent! I'd never even heard of this film until we borrowed the DVD from some friends (it's not on DVD in the US at all, and I don't remember ever seeing it on VHS though I'm sure it must have been). What a great film. What a fuckhead Albert Finney is, too. But you have to love Audrey in that black patent leather outfit.

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 8 May 2005 01:46 (twenty years ago)

i love that movie! a lot!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 8 May 2005 05:05 (twenty years ago)

redbulldozers' version of this makes me cum everytime i hear it.

― ken c (ken c), Sunday, 8 May 2005 10:22 (twenty years ago)

the only version i seem to have - i thought i had a julie london LP w.it but can't find it - is (somewhat implausibly) by eartha kitt

it's good but it's not a mood she brings conviction to - you feel like she's humouring her sappy beaux and wondering if they'll back to town in time to go clubbin tgill dawn

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 8 May 2005 10:37 (twenty years ago)

i like the andy williams version, i must admit

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 8 May 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

Um, Huk-L to thread.

I like the Jerry Butler version. The Art Blakey version is kind of cool. Edith Bunker used to do a terrible version on All In The Family.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 9 May 2005 00:29 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

this song gets it so right.

― 囧 (dyao), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 13:40 (sixteen years ago)

not sure why this thread is in ILE tho

― 囧 (dyao), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 13:41 (sixteen years ago)

Results 1 - 10 of about 370 for "poon river". (0.16 seconds)

― 囧 (dyao), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 13:49 (sixteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSsErpzoqr0

^^^i love this one. he just plays with it a bit, giving it a slightly... spectral aspect, and he dedicates it to his mom.

― rent, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 13:56 (sixteen years ago)

i saw him play that in a bookshop once, it is great.

― George Mucus (ledge), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 15:17 (sixteen years ago)

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