Mediaman's Reviews > Moon River and Me: A Memoir

Andy Williams just skims the surface of his career with very few personal details of his life or stories behind his music. Instead of giving us any insight he deflects by actually telling more stories about others than about himself. He spends way too much time on the Kennedys (about 10% of the pages) and seems very defensive of famous friends who have gained a lot of negative publicity (Sinatra, JFK, RFK, his ex-wife who shot her lover to death). In the end the book seemed like a humble brag--where he tries to tell us how insecure he is but how many famous people he knew and how rich he got.

The early parts of the book are best, where he talks about growing up in Iowa and being pushed by his father into the music business with his brothers. His dad taught him to be a perfectionist when putting on a show, and that caused a lot of anxiety in Andy (who later in life came to hate being on stage). Even in reviewing those early years he provides some snide negative comments about those he has a beef with, including his dad. That trait runs through the book and reflects his Iowa Stubborn background, where the proud people act like they're kind while ignoring you or insulting you.

Once he gets to his career he focuses a lot on a couple of people who help catapult him to success, particularly Kay Thompson. The two are an odd pairing and her mentorship turns sexual, though he doesn't go into depth on their affair. She seems to have single-handedly given him his career and the structure he needed to make it--but even Thompson gets slammed by Williams when he discovers she is making a lot of money off of his newfound success. This guy holds grudges while smiling outwardly.

When he finally hits it big the book falters and over half of it seems to be name-dropping the famous people he knew, including wasted pages on the backgrounds of many stars we already know about. It's weird that Williams doesn't give us any details about conversations or activities with these big names--just saying that he spent the night listening to gospel music with Elvis or playing golf with a U.S. president is not really telling us life stories. And if you're looking for any background details on how some his famous songs came to be you won't find it here--he doesn't even mention some of them nor seem to understand which ones will live on in history. For example he focuses often on "Butterfly," which was a very early hit that many have never heard, but ignores "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," which will be played every holiday season for centuries.

The Kennedy section is frustrating because Williams is a Republican and although he becomes so close with Bobby Kennedy that he flies across the country with him on a private jet and vacations often with the Kennedys (including with Jackie), we're supposed to believe the two never talked politics nor did Andy ever reveal his voter affiliation? It was only when Kennedy ran for president and asked Andy to be a delegate for him that Williams said he was a Republican, to which Bobby simply told him to switch parties.

It is interesting to hear the inside story about what went on the night of RFK's murder but Andy's defense of the Kennedys and his claim that they were anti-Mafia are naive and historically inaccurate. There are many statements made in the book that are factually incorrect or wrong-sided opinions.

I had hoped for much more openness and self-awareness in this book. He does state that he regrets traveling too much for work and missing time with his kids (as most celebs do in memoirs) but in the end he places himself on a very high pedestal. While he was, to me, the greatest male vocalist of all time, it would have been nice to have him share more of his failings instead of trying to make himself look so perfect.