Moon River Sunset

I have a lot of pleasant memories associated with Andy Williams and his music. We watched his TV show every week. Along with the music, I especially loved the “Cookie Bear” and his antics. And the Christmas shows were always a hit in my family.

I first heard “Moon River” sung by Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, and even thought Audrey was a wonderful actress, she sure couldn’t sing! For some reason, though, I was totally entranced by that little song. It’s been one of my favorites ever since. Of course, it helped that I totally loved the movie too, and had a giant crush on George Peppard! I don’t remember when I heard Andy Williams sing it, but from that point on, he was the ONLY one to sing it for me…

I had the 45 of Andy singing the theme from “The Godfather” and was impressed when he went falsetto at the end of the song to nail the high note. His vocal range was amazing. So many of his songs became favorites of mine, but only if he sang them.

Another favorite song was “May Each Day” that I first heard on a promo record given out by KFC. It had to have been in the 60’s. It was the size of a 45, but was played at 33 and had 3 songs on each side. I would listen to that record a LOT. I had to remember to switch my little record player to the right speed, though. I have no idea where that record is now. At some point, that was his ending song on his TV show, and my grandmother especially liked that one.

So, thanks, Andy. You were a bright light here, and always my Huckleberry Friend. Give the bear a cookie from me. And maybe give Audrey a few singing lessons….