It all  started one Saturday evening in the summer of 1990.   I just came home coming from my church choir practice when I heard on radio, a flute and harp duet  playing a very haunting tune.  That melody lingered and endlessly played inside my mind that the following day after church, I went to National Bookstore in EDSA to buy a piano piece of the song,  Moon River because I want to learn how to play this song.  (A little trivia about me:  Moon River is the only song that I can play on the piano).

The lyrics of the beguiling song, Moon River is such a big conundrum for me that I spent the next 4 years, since that unforgettable summer when I first heard it, trying to understand its metaphor and poetry.    With the help of a friend (who’s a gifted painter) I thought that I finally unraveled the meaning of its lyrics only to find out years later, that the song is inspired by the composer’s youthful days while growing up in Southern US, and that most of the words were just included in the lyrics to force a rhyme.

In the next 18 years I would hear Moon River again and again be rendered by countless singers and be featured in innumerable movies and TV shows alike.   We heard it sung by Anwar Robinson in the 2005 season of American Idol and Jason Yeager in the 2008 season of the same show.  The Three Tenors have included this song in their repertoire.   Almost all artists have made their own cover.  It maybe safe to assume that after the song “Yesterday”, Moon River is the song with the second most number of renditions made.

In countless Hollywood movies and TV shows, this song served as background music, very often, in the most romantic moments (Aside from the classic movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s where Moon River is the theme song).   In the finale of Sex and the City-Season 4, Mr. Big played the song Moon River as he bids his farewell to Carrie.    In the show Gilmore Girls,  Rory and Logan dance to this tune during the renewal of the wedding vows of Emily and Richard.  In dance movies, Take the Lead (Antonio Banderas) and Shall we Dance (Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon), the main characters danced to the tune of this song.   In the movie, Kate and Leopold (Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman), the two main characters listened to this song while on the roof top of their New York apartment.   How did this song become one of the most romantic songs ever written is a big conundrum.  Its lyrics never mentioned anything about love nor romance.    And if you will look superficially at its lyrics, it is almost nonsense.

That same Sunday, when I bought a piano piece of Moon River, the choir that I belong to, was assigned to sing at the Our Lady of EDSA Shrine.  After the church service, we went to the nearby Robinson’s Galleria mall (which is newly opened at that time) for our dinner.   We were strolling at the then spunky, new mall and we saw a musician playing on the piano.   I requested her to play Moon River.   This started my personal “tradition” that spanned almost 2 decades and counting, of requesting a musician to play Moon River.   Be it in a mall, restaurant or hotel lobby or whether the musical instrument is a flute, saxophone, violin or piano, I would ask them to perform the song, which for me is the most romantic song ever.  If by chance you hear a live instrumental rendition of Moon River, look around, I might be the one who requested it.

The video below is a collection of the renditions of different artists that includes Andy Williams, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Diana Ross, R.E.M., Sarah Brightman, Kate Melua, including the composer of Moon River, Henry Mancini and a cute little toddler with his mother.

Below is the another cover version done by Andrea Ross, one of the best cover of Moon River that I’ve ever heard.

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