Wand'rin' Star

Album: Paint Your Wagon soundtrack (1969)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • The 1969 musical Paint Your Wagon cost an estimated $20 million to produce but grossed less than $32 million at the American box office. That may have been disappointing, but the song "Wand'rin' Star" was anything but. Performed by Lee Marvin in a deep, soporific voice, it topped the UK chart for 3 weeks in 1970, and was also #1 in Ireland.

    The song finds Marvin singing about his peripatetic lifestyle that takes him to California for the Gold Rush.
  • The song appeared too in the 1951 Broadway version; it was composed by Frederick Loewe and written by Alan Jay Lerner. The Marvin single version - which was performed with a male chorus - was arranged and orchestrated by Nelson Riddle.
  • The B-side was another song from the same film, "I Still See Elisa," which was performed by Clint Eastwood. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

Comments: 4

  • Ronald from TucsonI looked in front and there was nobody. I looked behing and ... there was nobody. Kept moving! rdd
  • Keith E Johnson from Olathe KsMy family and friends all absolutely loved the movie version of "Paint Your Wagon"!!
  • Adrian Chan from MalaysiaThe spookiest song I've ever heard! Gives me goose pimples!
  • Greg from Shelbyville, KyLong one of my favorite movies. This song got a lot of airplay in the US, at least on what we would now call Adult Contemporary stations. Back then, they were Middle of the Road (MOR).
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