"Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song also won the 1962 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. In 1999, Mancini's recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"Around the World" is the theme tune from the 1956 movie Around the World in 80 Days. In the film, only an instrumental version of the song appeared, although the vocal version has become the better known one. The song was written by Harold Adamson and Victor Young; Young died in 1956, several weeks after the film's release, and he received the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture posthumously. Young's orchestral version was a #13 hit on the Billboard charts in 1957. The recording by Bing Crosby was the B-side of the Victor Young version in 1957, on Festival SP45-1274 in Australia, and was a joint charting success.
"I Really Don't Want to Know" is a popular song written by Don Robertson (music) Howard Barnes (lyrics). The song was published in 1953.
"My Heart Cries for You" is a popular song, adapted by Carl Sigman and Percy Faith from an 18th-century French melody. The song has been recorded by many singers, the most successful of which was recorded by Guy Mitchell which reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1951.
"I Can't Stop Loving You" is a popular song written and composed by the country musician Don Gibson from his 1958 album Oh Lonesome Me, who first recorded it on December 3, 1957, for RCA Victor Records. It was released in 1958 as the B-side of "Oh Lonesome Me", becoming a double-sided country hit single. At the time of Gibson's death in 2003, the song had been recorded by more than 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles, whose recording reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"Gigi" is the title song from the 1958 Academy Award-winning film, directed by Vincente Minnelli. It was written by Frederick Loewe (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (words), sung by Louis Jourdan in the film. It then went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1958.
"Softly, as I Leave You" is a popular Italian song, originally titled Piano, composed by Tony De Vita with Italian lyrics by Giorgio Calabrese, and English lyrics by Hal Shaper.
"Corcovado" is a bossa nova song and jazz standard written by Antônio Carlos Jobim in 1960. English lyrics were later written by Gene Lees. The Portuguese title refers to the Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro.
"It's the Talk of the Town" is a popular song written by Jerry Livingston, the lyrics by Al J. Neiburg and Marty Symes.
"Who Can I Turn To?" (alternatively titled "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)") is a song written by English composer-lyricists Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley and first published in 1964.
"Cabaret" is a song from the 1966 musical of the same name sung by the character Sally Bowles. It was composed by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb.
Andy Williams' Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in early 1970 by Columbia Records. It was not, however, as its title might suggest, strictly a hit singles compilation, although some of his biggest songs since joining Columbia were included. A couple of selections were never released as singles by Williams, and his signature song, "Moon River", was released in the 7-inch single format but only for jukeboxes. His six Cadence singles that made the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 are passed over for the inclusion of his number 11 hit from that label, "The Hawaiian Wedding Song", and 17 of his Columbia recordings that made the Hot 100 up until 1970 are left out here in favor of "Charade", which spent its one week on the chart at number 100.
Moon River: The Very Best of Andy Williams is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released on October 13, 2009. A note from Williams inside the CD booklet explains that the album "was put together to coincide with my memoir Moon River and Me, published by Viking/Penguin. It includes many of the songs that you made hits. I truly appreciate that, and I hope you enjoy the songs we selected for this CD." The collection covers a wide assortment of his material, including crossover hits, stabs at the youth market, a pair of Mancini-Mercer Oscar winners, a Christmas classic, and a eulogy to Robert F. Kennedy.
Andy Williams' Dear Heart is the sixteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in the spring of 1965 by Columbia Records and was the last of his Columbia releases that remained exclusively within the realm of traditional pop. After covering two Beatles hits on his next non-holiday studio album, The Shadow of Your Smile, he would try out samba music on In the Arms of Love, aim for a much younger crowd with "Music to Watch Girls By" on Born Free, and focus more on contemporary material on subsequent albums.
In the Arms of Love is the nineteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released on December 19, 1966, by Columbia Records and was the last of twelve consecutive Williams studio LPs produced by Robert Mersey.
"It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin'" is a song written and recorded by Johnny Tillotson, which was a major hit for him in 1962. The song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country & Western song for 1962 but lost to Burl Ives' "Funny Way of Laughing." It has been recorded by many other artists.
"This Is All I Ask" is a popular song written by Gordon Jenkins in 1958.
"Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" is a country song written and recorded by Hank Locklin. The song has become a standard for the Nashville sound, and has been covered by pop, country, and bluegrass artists.
"Almost There" is a song written by Gloria Shayne and Jack Keller and performed by Andy Williams in his film I'd Rather Be Rich (1964). The song reached #12 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart and #67 on the Billboard chart in 1964. It also reached #2 in the UK in October 1965 for three weeks. The B-side, "On the Street Where You Live", was also a hit, reaching #3 on the adult contemporary chart and #28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.
