THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

990-Lee Marvin-Wand’rin’ Star.

1970-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 1.14. Each to their own. You couldn’t imagine Lee Marvin singing something like ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry,’ (see also best songs 284) but at the same time you couldn’t imagine Franki Valli singing this.

‘Wand’rin’ Star’ was one of the 22 songs written by Alan J. Lerner, (lyrics) and Frederic Loewe, (music) for the 1951 Broadway Musical comedy ‘Paint Your Wagon.’ The story centres on a miner and his daughter, and follows the lives and loves of the people in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California, in 1853. In 1969 the film version which was also titled ‘Paint Your Wagon’ was released, it had a vastly different plot, which was also written by Lerner, with this time the American playwright Paddy Chayefsky assisting (1923-1981.) Lerner also produced the film, and Loewe provided the majority of the music, along with Andre Previn (1929-2019.)The soundtrack was then issued as an Album consisting of 14 songs. The film version of ‘Paint Your Wagon’ starred Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg, (1938-1979) and although neither Marvin or Eastwood could be called a natural singer, they chose to sing their own numbers in the film, rejecting the idea of miming over another singers voice. Jean Seberg described Lee Marvin’s voice as ‘Like rain gurgling down a rusty pipe,’ While Lee Marvin himself said that the song was a hit in Australia, and someone there described it as ‘The first 33⅓ recorded at 45.’

Lee Marvin was born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr. on February 19th, 1924, in New York City, United States, he had been a heavy drinker and smoker for much of his life, and he died of a heart attack on August 29th, 1987, at the age of 63. Prior to taking up an acting career Marvin had served with the United States Marine Corps during World War 2, for which he was highly decorated. Among the six significant medals and ribbons he received were the ‘Purple Heart, and the ‘Combat Action Ribbon.’ Lee Marvin appeared in 56 films between 1951-1986, including ‘The Killers’ (1964) and ‘The Dirty Dozen’ (1967.) In ‘Paint Your Wagon’ Marvin performs two songs, the other being ‘The First Thing You Know,’ after that film he didn’t pursue a singing career.

‘Wand’rin’ Star’ was co-written by Alan J. Lerner, and Frederick Loewe. Lerner was born on August 31st, 1918, in New York City, United States, he died of lung cancer on June 14th, 1986, at the age of 67. Along with Loewe, and later in his career with Burton Lane, (1912-1997) he created some of the most memorable musical theatre of the 20th Century, including ‘My Fair Lady,’ (1956) and ‘An American in Paris’ (1951.) Frederic Loewe was born on June 10th, 1901, in Berlin, Germany, he died of cardiac arrest on February 14th, 1988, at the age 86. He collaborated with Lerner on ‘My Fair Lady,’ and ‘An American in Paris,’ as well as several other well known projects.

The film ‘Paint Your Wagon’ was a box office flop, but the soundtrack Album proved to be a great success, with the aid of Nelson Riddle (1921-1985) (see also best songs 877-286 and 73) orchestrating and arranging it. ‘Wand’rin’ Star’ spent three weeks at Number 1 in the UK in March 1970, keeping the Beatles ‘Let it Be’ from reaching the top spot, the song was also a hit in Australia where it made Number 10. Lee Marvin is a ‘one hit-wonder’ in the UK. The definition of a ‘one hit-wonder’ is an act that has had a Number 1 hit, but has never charted again, (I consider that to be a top 40 hit) other acts in this ‘1000 best songs list’ are (see also best songs 698-496-467-116 and 101.)

‘Wand’rin’ Star’ includes some wonderful and insightful lyrics including,’Snow can burn your eyes, but only people make you cry,’ and ‘Do I know where hell is? Hell is in hello.’