Arts Vanity: ‘Moon River’ and Me

For many, the release day of Spotify Wrapped is its own sort of holiday. My friends rush to post their musical year-in-review on Instagram, eager to display their own and see others’ top artists and genres from the past 11 and a half months. While it is exciting to learn that I played the most music on Jan. 23 and amusing to watch Spotify attempt to convince me that my music taste is unique, I can already predict which song will top my stats each year. It’s one that has dominated my listening for as long as I’ve had Spotify: “Moon River,” sung by Audrey Hepburn.

The song was written for the 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” — originally a novella by Truman Capote — in which Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, a free-spirited, naive socialite in New York. Holly strikes up a friendship with her new neighbor, aspiring writer Paul Varjak, that threatens her plan to marry a wealthy older man. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is best known for the picture of Hepburn as Holly wearing Hubert de Givenchy’s iconic little black dress and strings of pearls, a long cigarette holder balanced between her gloved fingers as she smiles at the camera. It is very possible that images of Holly’s glamorous style would have eclipsed the prominence of another song. Yet more than 60 years later, “Moon River” remains one of the film’s most beloved and recognizable elements.

In the film, Hepburn sings “Moon River” while strumming a guitar on a fire escape. This scene offers a moment of rare vulnerability for the usually guarded Holly, revealing her longing for adventure through the song’s dreamy lyrics and her wistful expression. Hearing her voice from his apartment, Paul pauses his writing and opens his window, watching as she finishes the song. It’s pure cinema magic, and it reminds me why movies have captivated me for so much of my life.

Composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer — written specifically for Hepburn’s voice — “Moon River” went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Although now celebrated, the song nearly didn’t make it into “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”: A Paramount Pictures executive had suggested removing it from the film, to which Hepburn apparently countered, “Over my dead body!” Hepburn was not a singer, but perhaps she understood how perfectly the bittersweet song suited her character.

Since 1961, hundreds of artists — from Barbra Streisand to Frank Ocean to Morrissey — have covered “Moon River.” Andy Williams even adopted it as his theme song. Despite the countless polished renditions by professional singers, it’s Hepburn’s unadorned, gentle alto that remains my favorite. I turn to her version whenever I have the “mean reds” — Holly’s term for a vague, nameless anxiety — or when I need a tune to calm me down.

Others might be alarmed that a song for times of agitation is consistently one’s No. 1 on Spotify Wrapped, but I’ve come to embrace the comfort of returning to the same melody. I’ve known for years that “Moon River” will in some way make me feel better by the end of its two minutes and three seconds, whether I am upset, uneasy, or nostalgic. Its reliability is a testament less to my listening habits and more to the timelessness of the song itself. Some songs understand feelings so deeply human that they transcend time and space, reaching listeners far removed from the moment they were written. That rare endurance is what keeps “Moon River” playing, year after year.

—Outgoing Film Executive and incoming Editor-at-Large Elizabeth E. Choi can be reached at [email protected]. She is trying to figure out what Spotify means by “Cloud State Society.”