Maybe it's because I just back back from Georgia (which went very well, even though I'm not used to an 8:00am start time for a recording session-especially on a Saturday) but I've been hearing "Moon River" in my head for the last 12 hours or so. The original Moon River is in Savannah, Georgia, where lyricist Johnny Mercer grew up, picking huckleberries. That may be part of why REM covered the song years ago. The original (and some say best) version of the song is, of course, from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," where Audrey Hepburn sings and plays acoustic guitar. The song was nearly cut from the film, because it was slow, but it so perfectly captures the spirit of memory and longing for home, the sense of bittersweet dreams of something better-the end of the rainbow-that it's removal seems unthinkable today.

Moon River,
Wider than a mile:
I'm crossin' you in style
Some day.
Old dream maker,
You heart breaker,
Wherever your 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.

And it's an amazingingly simple and poignant melody, courtesy of Henry Mancini. Quincy Jones once forced David Foster (then an aspiring producer, now one of the most successful in the business) to play a new tune on the piano with one finger. "Now that's hard to do," says Foster. "You can play 'Moon River' with one finger, no problem. But try and play some tune with no melody and no real content, with one finger. You can't do it."

He's right. So I think I'll go exercise that finger and do a version of Moon River. Hopefully one that'll make Audrey Hepburn proud.