{"id":15758,"date":"2022-06-14T16:21:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T14:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/?p=15758"},"modified":"2026-06-04T12:48:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:48:23","slug":"moon-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jazzguitar.be\/blog\/moon-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moon River was composed by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s<\/em> (1961). The song was written for Audrey Hepburn to sing on screen. She performs the vocal herself, but the guitar accompaniment is not actually played by her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Moon<\/p>\n

In this lesson, you will learn a chord melody arrangement of Moon River.<\/p>\n

JGO+<\/a><\/strong> members also get access to an additional beginner-friendly version featuring the melody as single notes with a straightforward chord accompaniment.<\/p>\n

Mancini won the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Arrangement for the piece.<\/p>\n

The movie itself won the “Best Performance By An Orchestra For Other Than Dancing” and “Best Sound Track Album Or Recording Of Score From Motion Picture Or Television” award.<\/p>\n

In 1963, Mancini won the same rewards again for his song Days of Wine and Roses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“I reckon I’ll have made around $100,000 on ‘Moon River’ within the next two years or so. It took me about 30 minutes to compose. It had to be in keeping with the character of Holly Golightly, the star of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and I had to bear in mind the limitations of Audrey Hepburn’s voice. I worked the whole song around a simple guitar basis, although the guitar isn’t heard much during the number.” – Henry Mancini (1962)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moon River is an actual river in Savannah (Georgia), where lyricist Johnny Mercer grew up.\u00a0 It was originally called Back River<\/em> but was later renamed Moon River<\/em> in honor of Mercer and the song.<\/p>\n

At the end of the arrangement (bar 36), I use a b5 ending<\/a>: F#m7b5 replaces the tonic Cmaj7 and moves downward chromatically while the top note remains the same across the chords.<\/p>\n

This version of Moon River is arranged with the principles of our Complete Chord Melody<\/em> course in mind.<\/p>\n

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\"Chord<\/a><\/p>\n

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Recommended listening:<\/strong><\/p>\n