Pat Boone sings Moody River

"Moody River"
Moody River by Pat Boone single cover.jpg
Moody River by Pat Boone
Single by Pat Boone
from the album Moody River
B-side "A Thousand Years"
Released May 1961
Recorded April 8, 1961
Studio Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, U.S.
Genre Country pop
Length 2:41
Label Dot
Songwriter(s) Gary D. Bruce
Producer(s) Randy Wood
"Moody River" is a song written by and originally performed by country rockabilly singer Chase Webster (real name Gary Daniel Bruce, not to be confused with Gary Bruce of The Knack).
Pat Boone recorded and released his own version in May 1961, where it reached number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following month.This was the title track from one of Boone's better-selling albums. Boone sang this song as if he were in pain
The song tells the story of a man who goes to meet his love at the river, by the old oak tree, and finds that she has died by suicide. A note on the riverbank explains that she has cheated on him and that "No longer can I live with this hurt and this sin. I just couldn't tell you that guy was just a friend." He then looks into the river and sees his own reflection on the river looking back, ever hauntingly, at him. He is the "lonely, lonely face just lookin' back at me". So with "Tears in his eyes, and a prayer on his lips, and the glove of his lost love, at his fingertips".