RIFFS / Morrissey on the sadly overlooked gloom of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's 'Moon River'

'A LOT of the versions one knows are very cabaret-ish, if that's the word, which suits me fine. I'm fond of the Shirley Bassey version, of course, but to me the most familiar recording, the one I grew up with, was Frank Sinatra's which I thought was very sad. But then of course the song is very sad, though that tends to be overlooked in some of the more triumphant recordings of it. It's possible that most people look on it as a sweet, simple lyric and don't dwell upon the words, which are depressing really: 'Moon river . . . I'm crossing you in style someday'. The fulfilment promised in the song is always in the future, so it has this never-finding, ever- reaching feel. It's hard to sing only in the sense that you realise you're more familiar with it than you perhaps thought. And it's a song which our parents knew - it brings a previous generation to mind - which can tend to make you nervous.'

Mancini obituary, p 16

Morrissey recorded 'Moon River' earlier this year as a B- side for the single 'Hold on to Your Friends'

(Photograph omitted)