“Moon River,” a hauntingly beautiful song from The Sixties

In this day and age of seemingly hopeless cynicism; more and more appalling crime news; the continuing despoilment of our environment; and crowds, noise, dejection, and loneliness in our huge, impersonal cities, there are times when, for many reasons, I long for imagined simpler times. Such a time was not too long ago, really, and must have been the early 1960s, before the lid blew off the decade and cities exploded in race riots, and Kennedy and Johnson’s war just about tore the country apart. There was a sort of calm before the storm.

In 1962 and 1963, I was a tall, serious, studious 7th grader, adjusting to a new life in the suburbs of New Orleans, having moved there from Jefferson Parish, across the Mississippi River. At that age, of course, life is for eternity. You are forever young and you take adolescence very seriously. You become the center, briefly, of a universe seemingly all of your own making. Life in those early teenage years seems to be filled with so much that is of great significance and importance, real and imagined. I inhabited a kind of nervous, self-conscious, and very ego-centric, edge-of-adulthood world where possibilities and consequences loomed larger than ever before. And things continued in that vein. It was not any “golden age,” this early adolescence, far from it, but it was a time, although I didn’t realize it, when the lingering innocence of the 50s was still hanging on, but just barely.

It was a time when music was simpler and purer, and lyrics were unabashedly romantic, “square,” and yes, even lyrical and poetic. There were some very nice songs and ballads. And there were classic movies such as 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, whose song, Moon River, captured some of the innocence I’ve been alluding to. How beautiful those two words are, and what a stroke of genius to combine them and make a song out of it. The song was made famous by Andy Williams (you know you are of a certain age and generation when you recall his early TV shows and each of his big hits from the 60s).

For some reason, I’ve been thinking of this song for days now and have been listening to a CD of Williams’ recordings from that period, a voice, if you recall, which is truly and astonishingly beautiful and rich and cadenced. I am in awe as I listen to him sing songs like “Moon River” and “Lonely Street,” “Willow Weep for Me”, “Summer Love,” and “Autumn Leaves.” Just very moody and evocative of those times. I didn’t appreciate the songs until later in life because I was too young at the time, but now I know why they are classics. They tell a story, and, they bring back vividly a time and an an era that has long since passed from the scene. But, as with so much of music, the memories linger on in the songs, even if we were too young to know what was going on at the time.

Moon River
Music by Henry Mancini
Words by Johnny Mercer

Moon River, wider than a mile
I’m crossing you in style — someday
Oh dream maker, you heartbreaker
Wherever you’re goin’ — I’m goin’ 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
Waitin’ round the bend
My huckleberry friend
Moon River — and me.

(Written May27, 2000)