Well I started this CB business to let folks know about music that moves me. Well this tune does that. I’m not a big musical film guy but I love this tune. It’s a big production with the full blown orchestra treatment. The lyrics and Harv’s delivery get me every time. Harve sings it like he’s living it. I believe him. Again CB is showing his romantic side.
Oh yeah, the song is from the film ‘Paint Your Wagon’. I saw this film when I was a kid because it had Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in it (They both do a song. Marvin’s I really liked). Somewhere in the film Harve’s character, Rotten Luck Willie, busts out with this song and it absolutely got me. The next time I heard of Harve Prensell he showed up in the movie Fargo.
The song never pushed me towards more musicals but it certainly stayed with me all these years. I love it and it still stirs something inside me. Belt it out Harve!
‘Now I’m lost so gol derned lost not even God can find me”. What a great lyric.
slicethelife 
Harve does sing his heart out with this one. I remember seeing Paint Your Wagon as a kid too and remember liking it. Maybe time to revisit it. I don’t go out looking for musicals but there are several I’ve happened along that I like and some that I love. Great choice to add to the mix, CB!
Not a big musical guy like I said but songs like this pop and and grab us. I can think of a couple others but this is the go to for me.
What a great voice.
He nails it Vic.
When I saw the title and the artist I was certain I had never heard the song before- but when I played it- I remembered it. Presnell looks familiar but one of those actors I wouldn’t have been able to identify by name. An interesting out of the norm pick!
Wow…I actually remember this and I haven’t watched many musicals. He does have a hell of a voice. Great pick CB for coming out of left field.
The vocal is great but it’s the character in the song and all the longing , regret, love. etc. Giving it up to chase the fever. Like I said to Hans I get goosebumps with this one. The whole wild nature thing. Just how enticing the wild is.
Great piece! I feel the goosebumps with this one:
Or, this one:
Both those are great. One of my favorite soundtracks. One of the good people I follow on here, J at Wax Ecstatic did a great piece on that whole album.
Got a link?
https://towaxecstatic.wordpress.com/2019/12/20/the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/
Thank you!
The music picks us Hans. I got taken in by the vibe on this one. I think it’s Nelson Riddle’s orchestra which wasnt to shabby.
This is excellent!!
Great comment
I remember the movie, good song, great performance- but nothing can top Marvins soaring five octave range on ‘Wanderin’ Star?’ Or was it one warbling note? Anyways he made some other actor (Dicky Harris or someone) make ‘MacArthur Park sound almost listenable.
But sometimes we hear something way out of our sphere and it works for us. That’s musics magic.
Your last paragraph fits me perfect on this one. Just nails me.
Yeah Lee was a piece of work. Ill let you comment on Clints song. One actor who actually did some interesting tunes was Robert Mitchum. I was just talking about him with someone recently.
Dicky leaving the cake out in the rain always had me thinking, where was he?
Thanks, never heard of Mitchum as a singer, I’ll check him out. Dicky and his cake- what a soggy old mess that Jimmy Webb became- not even a dash of Disco could make that blubbery mess rise again.
Thunder Road by Mitchem and here’s one for you, calypso music and its not bad.
Thanks, the search is on…
I first heard this song performed by the Smothers Brothers. Then I saw Paint Your Wagon (which I loved), and thought as kids do, that they were singing the Smothers’ song. Quite a backward introduction to a great song! Harve’s version is magnificent. It’s a superb draft pick, imo. Your write up contains a great song, and mention of two great movies, Paint Your Wagon and Fargo. I never would have known that was Harve in Fargo!
I know there are a few versions around (Sam Cooke) but I bought in to this one. The emotion and feel plus the image of Rotten Luck Willie feeling it. Yeah Harve wasnt to impressed with his deadbeat son-in-law in Fargo.
No idea that was Harve in Fargo, which is another classic film. Doncha’ know.
He was perfect.
Wow, this one’s straight out of left field CB! It’s a fantastic, rousing number for sure. I too saw “Paint Your Wagon” when it came out, though as a teen (I seem to be the oldest codger in this group.) I also seem to be the only one here who loves musicals, especially ones from the 50s & 60s.
Ill take a great song from where ever I can get them. Another one I liked was ‘Lonesome Polecat’ from 7 Brides 7 Brothers.
Wow, CB, I didn’t see that one coming. While I can’t say it’s my cup of tea, I like passion in vocalists, and Presnell definitely projects that. Also, if I wouldn’t have read the post, I would have thought he’s singing about a women named Mariah rather than Maria, but I suppose his pronunciation perhaps is for dramatic effect?
I put this one on my own site back when and got some good comments there also. I never did the research but im guessing it’s some kind of weather thing. Works for me.
As others have said kind of out of left field but that’s what makes the draft great – songs that move us regardless of where from. Love the voice in this one
You know the deal Paul, the music chooses us.
Well, what do we know, fellows? A movie from 1969 knocks us out. Presnel was a great broadway stage actor and singer. What a fine job he did on this one. During the song, the cutting into scenes of the miners singing along with him is pure genius. That song was a big radio hit at the time, as was Lee Marvin’s” Wandering Star,” a tune that crawls into your ear and stays there. The movie has some of the best sets and cinematography you will ever find. During the drunken hoedown around the campfire, the band playing the fiddles, banjo, and guitars is actually a little-known “Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.” I graduated from HS that year and saw the movie with my parents. A good memory. Does it make you wonder why Hollywood can’t make movies as good as Paint Your Wagon anymore?
I have a couple soundtrack albums (different covers, I think) to the film Phil. Yeah it kinda got in my bones.