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Jan. 9th, 2011 08:05 pm
Moon River
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fiona_gradyI just learned that Blake Edwards died in December. In addition to the distinction of being a husband to Julie Andrews and a creator of "The Pink Panther", he was, of course, the director of that Movie of All Movies - "Breakfast at Tiffany's". As a director, Edwards deserves the credit for the film's two main assets - casting Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly and commissioning the song "Moon River".
The song was written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, and this is how this came about.
Henry Mancini was known as "a score guy", he wrote background and theme music for films and television shows, and had worked with Blake Edwards in the late 1950's on a TV show "Peter Gunn". When Edwards needed music for "Breakfast at Tiffany's", he called his old buddy. Mancini, however, was not at all known as somebody who could write a song, and the producers had already decided to commission someone famous from Broadway to write the song that Holly wаs always singing on her fire escape landing. They had also decided to hire someone from Broadway to do a voice-over for Hepburn, as she was not much of a singer. Mancini, however, had other ideas: he knew that he could write a song, and knew that Audrey could sing it if the song was written for her, simple and in her range. He begged and cajoled Edwards, and begged again, and the studio decided to give him a chance. He played his tune for Edwards and Edwards loved it, and when he asked whom he wanted for a lyricist, Mancini said: Johnny Mercer.
At first glance, for Johnny Mercer, who had collaborated with Jerome Kearn, Hoagy Carmichael and other greats, working with Mancini did not seem like such a wonderful idea . However, at the dawn of the be-pop and rock-n-roll, the popularity of jazz started to wane, as did Mercer's fortunes. When Mancini played the tune for him, Mercer sighed: "Hank, it's a waltz, who is going to record it? It has no future commercially". Nonetheless, he took the score and came up with three different lyrics.
They met at the Beverly Wilshire, Mancini sat down at the piano, and Mercer sang his first version:
I'm Holly
Like I want to be
Like holly on a tree
Back home
Just plain Holly
With no dolly
No mama, no papa
Wherever I roam...
"I don't know about that one, though" he said. Then he sang a second version, and then - just like in every good story- he finally sang:
Blue River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going 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--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Blue River and me.
In many an interview Henry Mancini would tell of sitting in that darkened ballroom at the Beverly Wilshire and getting chills up his spine the very first time he heard the verse "my hucklberry friend". One line that conjured up the whole world, or as Mancini called it "echoes of America: Tom and Huck, and the Mississippi, and so much more". And everybody always lauded and congratulated Johnny Mercer on that line, but Mercer once admitted that it was all a terrible mistake. There had already been a song called "Blue River", and Mercer had to change the title to "Moon River" to avoid the legal fuss, and the word "huckleberry", well, it was just another word for "blue", but he forgot to change it. That may all be true, but I believe that for Johnny Mercer, a native of Savannah, a scion of an illustrious Southern family, the Old South, and the River, and Tom and Huck were always somewhere near the surface. And Holly Golightly, after all, wasn't her real name Lula Mae, a Southern child bride?
Not everybody was immediately convinced, though. A Paramount chief Marty Rackin said at the preview: "I don't know what you guys are gonna do, but that f**in' song has to go.". Blake Edwards stood his ground, the song stayed and it won the Oscar. And the rest is history.
The song was written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, and this is how this came about.
Henry Mancini was known as "a score guy", he wrote background and theme music for films and television shows, and had worked with Blake Edwards in the late 1950's on a TV show "Peter Gunn". When Edwards needed music for "Breakfast at Tiffany's", he called his old buddy. Mancini, however, was not at all known as somebody who could write a song, and the producers had already decided to commission someone famous from Broadway to write the song that Holly wаs always singing on her fire escape landing. They had also decided to hire someone from Broadway to do a voice-over for Hepburn, as she was not much of a singer. Mancini, however, had other ideas: he knew that he could write a song, and knew that Audrey could sing it if the song was written for her, simple and in her range. He begged and cajoled Edwards, and begged again, and the studio decided to give him a chance. He played his tune for Edwards and Edwards loved it, and when he asked whom he wanted for a lyricist, Mancini said: Johnny Mercer.
At first glance, for Johnny Mercer, who had collaborated with Jerome Kearn, Hoagy Carmichael and other greats, working with Mancini did not seem like such a wonderful idea . However, at the dawn of the be-pop and rock-n-roll, the popularity of jazz started to wane, as did Mercer's fortunes. When Mancini played the tune for him, Mercer sighed: "Hank, it's a waltz, who is going to record it? It has no future commercially". Nonetheless, he took the score and came up with three different lyrics.
They met at the Beverly Wilshire, Mancini sat down at the piano, and Mercer sang his first version:
I'm Holly
Like I want to be
Like holly on a tree
Back home
Just plain Holly
With no dolly
No mama, no papa
Wherever I roam...
"I don't know about that one, though" he said. Then he sang a second version, and then - just like in every good story- he finally sang:
Blue River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going 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--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Blue River and me.
In many an interview Henry Mancini would tell of sitting in that darkened ballroom at the Beverly Wilshire and getting chills up his spine the very first time he heard the verse "my hucklberry friend". One line that conjured up the whole world, or as Mancini called it "echoes of America: Tom and Huck, and the Mississippi, and so much more". And everybody always lauded and congratulated Johnny Mercer on that line, but Mercer once admitted that it was all a terrible mistake. There had already been a song called "Blue River", and Mercer had to change the title to "Moon River" to avoid the legal fuss, and the word "huckleberry", well, it was just another word for "blue", but he forgot to change it. That may all be true, but I believe that for Johnny Mercer, a native of Savannah, a scion of an illustrious Southern family, the Old South, and the River, and Tom and Huck were always somewhere near the surface. And Holly Golightly, after all, wasn't her real name Lula Mae, a Southern child bride?
Not everybody was immediately convinced, though. A Paramount chief Marty Rackin said at the preview: "I don't know what you guys are gonna do, but that f**in' song has to go.". Blake Edwards stood his ground, the song stayed and it won the Oscar. And the rest is history.
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