Quick question– what song prevented the Beatles’s “Let It Be” from hitting #1 on the UK charts in March of 1970? It had to be pretty amazing, because “Let It Be” was their swan song as a band. I’ll give you another hint: it was played at Joe Strummer’s funeral (may he rest in peace).
If you don’t know off the top of your head, what would you guess? March of 1970– could be another Beatles song, or maybe the Rolling Stones. Possibly an American interloper, like Simon and Garfunkel. Now we’re getting closer, at least, because it was an American, though not Paul or Art. He didn’t chart another single before or since, actually, and was known mainly as an actor– Lee Marvin.
The song in question was “Wand’rin’ Star,” a hit from the musical Paint Your Wagon. Yeah, that’s right, a song from an American musical. And it held the #1 spot for three weeks, in 1970, and wasn’t even sung by a professional singer. Boo-yah! Ten points to the American Musical!
Though in this case, I’ll gladly give credit where credit’s due, and say that this is a phenomenal recording because of a) Lee Marvin’s tenderly understated performance, and b) Nelson Riddle’s lush, silky arrangement, which manages to pinpoint that Western Weltschmerz.
It’s a great song no matter what the setting though, as proven by how I found out about it. My friend Hilly works for a voice teacher, and after hearing a student sing it through just once, she recalled enough of it to sing back a large chunk to me. Her rendering was enough for me to go seek it out, and I was taken enough to tell you about it.
Give it a listen:
And if you love it as much as I do, here’s a copy for your pocket.
Tags: lee marvin, musicals, video, western
