https://youtu.be/5zENH7sNQkg?is=vScmVHo1rLIf-3R_
Johnny Mercer’s final lyrics (“Moon River, wider than a mile…”) are widely considered a masterpiece of poetic yearning. But because he was writing the song specifically for Audrey Hepburn’s character, Holly Golightly, in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Mercer’s very first draft took the character’s name a bit too literally.
The original opening lines were:
“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.”
Fortunately, Mercer realized the lyrics sounded like a bizarre nursery rhyme and scrapped them for the version we know today.
Bonus Fact: The song almost didn’t make it into the movie at all. After a lukewarm preview screening, a Paramount Pictures executive famously turned to the crew and declared that the song had to be cut. Hepburn—who was incredibly self-conscious about her limited singing voice—shot out of her chair and shouted, “Over my dead body!” The song stayed, ultimately winning an Oscar and two Grammys.
WE&P by: EZorrillaMc&Co
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