Sunday, October 18, 2009

They Call The Wind...

...Maria!

Okay, for the last few years days, I've been walking around the house singing, whistling, and humming, "They Call The Wind Maria!"

I take no shame in this at all. I am a born "whistler, and hummer." My Daddy, Momma, Granddaddy, and Papaw were all whistlers...and hummers...it's in my geneticals.

Anyway...this afternoon The Mrs. and me had a conversation as I walked through the bedroom humming the song.

The Mrs.: "Are you still singing that song?"

Me: "Yep!"

The Mrs. : "Why?"

Me: "Well, I can't remember if it's from "Paint Your Wagon," or from "How The West Was Won." I know that Momma took us to see "How The West Was Won" at the Strand Theater downtown when I was a little kid. And, I'm pretty sure that we went to see "Paint Your Wagon" at the Barksdale Drive-In-Theater in the late '60s before it got blown away by a tornado. It's been bugging me, and the song still haunts me all these years later."

So, I looked it up on the worldwide computer. I was kinda right! It is a song from "Paint Your Wagon." Over the years, it has always haunted me. But it seems that it is "haunting" me more, and more, lately.

I have heard it performed by Frankie Lane, the Bar-D Wranglers in Durango, CO, and of course in the original film.

If y'all promise not to tell, I'll confide in ya' that the line, "and now I'm lost...so gall-darned lost...that even God can't find me," is what's really haunting me. I mean, I've got this friend that can't seem to find his way these days. And when I think about him, that song line comes to mind. I think about that friend often.

I guess that I like the song a lot. And since I've been accused of being a "nigger lover," I may as well give a link to quite possibly my favorite singer of all times, Sam Cooke, singin' the tune.

There is great controversy on the computer over whether the name of the wind is "Maria," or "Mariah." Truthfully, I don't give a rats hiney...I like the song, and I know how it's pronounced, regardless of how it's spelled.

But this one seems more like what I remember as a child from the film...

3 comments:

  1. The Smothers Brothers did a somewhat comedic version of it, too. I can't remember at what point Tommy digressed, I just remember he did.

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  2. For one minute there I thought you meant Maria Shriver/Schwarzenigger who's in the new today.

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  3. I've been singin this for the last week, as well. Crazy weird! I was just telling a friend to check it out. At my age, it's a tough sell to my friends to check out a musical from the 60's, but I digress.

    Movie's a must see if only for the sheer fact that Eastwood belts out a few bars here n' thar.

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