The Mighty Mississippi. It really is wider than a mile, much wider in some places as it winds its lazy way south from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Its most famous travelers were a boy named Huck and an enslaved man named Jim, who journeyed down the river on a raft, looking for some kind of freedom.
We can’t promise the raft when we perform this beautiful classic in our upcoming February concert, Sun, Moon & Stars. But thanks to Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, we can promise the journey. It’s sure to conjure the romance and adventure of our most storied river.
Fun Facts:
- Moon River was composed by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. It was performed by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961 and won an Academy Award for best original song.
- Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884 in the UK and 1885 in the U.S. Other writers who have written about the Mississippi River include Herman Melville, Edna Ferber and George R.R. Martin.
- The name Mississippi comes from the Ojibwe Misi-ziibi, or Great River.
- The river is considered the most endangered river in the U.S. due to pollution and climate change.