This tune is generally associated with Holly Golightly’s urban glamour and winsome charm in the film “Breakfast At Tiffany’s.” George Mercer, however, channeled memories of his carefree childhood in Arkansas, picking huckleberries and gazing at the moon, when writing the lyrics. Hepburn’s tender, unassuming version won Academy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The film has, in recent times, been re-examined by critics for the racism of its stereotypical portrayal of Holly’s Japanese neighbor, Mr. Yunioshi, played, appallingly, by Mickey Rooney in yellow-face. The song, though, escaped the confines of the film early on, and has subsequently been performed by the likes of Andy Williams, Amy Winehouse, and Anita Bryant (!) among others. In 2004, Pedro Almodóvar featured the song, with Spanish lyrics, in his film Mala Educación.

Here is an example of an incredible song that has stood the test of time, been interpreted and reinterpreted by major artists, and began its life in a film so nondistinct that it doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. (Which is not to say that we would ever look at Wikipedia while researching this project; of course we would never.) When the film, which starred Anna Magniani and Anthony Quinn, was released, Johnny Mathis’s recording was promoted as the official version of the theme (whose writers also wrote the eponymous theme to the classic “High Noon”). Nina Simone, among others, later did a remarkably potent version, which in turn inspired David Bowie to cover it on his “Station to Station” album. It seems to have been a favorite of his; it was among a handful of songs he performed at his last public appearance, the 2006 Black Ball charity concert in New York.

When people think of this film, they most often think of the iconic, bawdy, nearly tawdry instrumental theme by Elmer Bernstein. It’s been covered a lot, and it tends to make one want to perform a strip-tease. But an alternate theme, called, unsurprisingly, “The Man With the Golden Arm,” was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, who at that point were Frank Sinatra’s go-to composers. Sinatra recorded the tune with Nelson Riddle’s orchestra. It was ultimately not used in the film, though, and did not appear on the soundtrack album. It remained officially unreleased until 2002. Sammy Davis Jr. is, to our knowledge, the only other person to have recorded it, in a version released by Decca in 1955. This very unadorned recording was made at the soundcheck for a New York City show— in fact you can hear bassist Adam Bernstein verbally directing the string section.