Origins: They Call the Wind Mariah (Lerner/Loewe)

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: GUEST,the hiker
Date: 01 May 00 - 04:58 AM

Does anyone remember who sang the song in the movie, I dont think it was either of the principal actors

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: alison
Date: 01 May 00 - 04:04 AM

best song in the movie IMHO

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Metchosin
Date: 01 May 00 - 02:17 AM

www.salfolks

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Metchosin
Date: 01 May 00 - 02:12 AM

well fake or not Rick, to my mind, They Call the Wind Maria, is a powerful piece, especially if you don't chicken out on the word "god damned".

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 01 May 00 - 01:50 AM

It always struck me as typical of those "straight composer" attempts to write something that sounded like (their idea of) a folksong. Dmitri Tiomkin, and Randy Sparks did a lot of that. E Y Harburg's various musical partners did it as well. I think it was Aldo Monteconne (or something) who did that kind of thing for the "Spaghetti Westerns". The tip off is usually the C to Am (or Em) changes, or when they were being radical..C to Bb. Generally these composers would ALWAYS use altered chords, but not in their "folk" songs.

Other songs of that ilk that come to mind, that some think are actual folksongs are: Greenfields, Green Leaves Of Summer, Summer Wine, Baby The Rain Must Fall, I was Born Under a Wanderin' Star (Lee Marvin..OY!) LOve Me Tender, El Paso etc.

Some of the "fake folk" in Finian's Rainbow, must have struck me as pretty good at one point, 'cause I've got an old songbook of mine with "Look To The Rainbow" in it.

Rick

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Metchosin
Date: 01 May 00 - 01:28 AM

Frankham, it wasn't Tommy who said it was Dutch, but Dick who corrected him with the Dutch reference. If Tommy had said it was Dutch, I wouldn't have given it the slightest bit of creedance.

I have emailed them for a clarification, but I won't hold my breath. *BG*

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 May 00 - 01:21 AM

I found it in Coperinc 2000 (search engine) under Mariah, but no more useful info than you have for origins.

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Metchosin
Date: 01 May 00 - 12:17 AM

Sorcha, It is in the DT under the spelling of "Maria" and also on the Smothers Brothers record, as well as other sources that I searched as "Maria", which seemed odd to me at the time, as I would have thought that the spelling would have been "Mariah" too.

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Apr 00 - 10:20 PM

Remember that if you go a-searching, it is spelt "Mariah", not "Maria". (and I think Frank is probably correct, those boys made up an incredible amount of silliness!

Subject: RE: Help: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Frankham
Date: 30 Apr 00 - 08:21 PM

I don't think so. Sometimes composers might unwittingly appropriate tunes from other sources. But since Lerner and Lowe have produced so many memorable tunes such as found in My Fair Lady and other musical scores, it seems unlikely that Lowe would base it on anything ethnic unless he intended to use it for a characterization. Now in Brigadoon, there may be some basis for Scottish tunes.

Tommy was pulling the proverbial leg I think.

Subject: Origins of They Call the Wind Maria
From: Metchosin
Date: 30 Apr 00 - 06:26 PM

I am curious about the song They Call the Wind Maria from the musical "Paint Your Wagon".

The composers are listed as Lerner and Lowe, but I have a Smothers Brothers LP from the early sixties, in which they claim that it is an old Dutch Folksong.

I know the Smothers Brothers were always "dicking around" in their introductions to songs and initially on this record, Tommy introduces it as an old Israeli folksong, but is then corrected by his brother, who says it is Dutch.

Does anyone have further information regarding this tune? Did Lerner and Lowe base this song in fact on a Dutch Folksong?