"They Call the Wind Mariah" and the Letter to Mrs. Bixby: Harve Presnell in Paint Your Wagon and Saving Private Ryan

 


 

They Call the Wind Mariah
Music by Frederick Loewe
Words by Alan Jay Lerner

Chorus: Mariah, Mariah,
They call the wind, “Mariah.”

A way out here, they got a name,
For rain and wind and fire,
The rain is “Tess,” the fire’s “Joe,”
And they call the wind, “Mariah.”

Mariah blows the stars around,
And sends the clouds a-flyin,’
Mariah makes the mountain sound,
Like folks were up there dyin.’

Chorus: Mariah, Mariah,
Harve: They call the wind, “Mariah.”

Before I knew Mariah’s name,
And heard her wail and whinin,’
I had a girl, and she had me,
And the sun was always shinin.’

But then one day I left my girl,
I left her far behind me,
And now I'm lost, so goldern lost,
Not even God can find me.

Chorus: Mariah, Mariah,
They call the wind, “Mariah.”

Out here they got a name for rain,
For wind and fire only,
But when you’re lost and all alone,
There ain’t no word but “lonely.”

And I’m a lost and lonely man,
Without a star to guide me,
Mariah, blow my love to me,
I need my girl beside me.

Chorus: Mariah, Mariah,
They call the wind, Mariah.

Mariah, Mariah,
Blow my love to me.


Long before the late Harve Presnell (1933-2009) was a big, bald, old character actor who played commanding SOBs in movies like Fargo and Saving Private Ryan, he was a blandly handsome, young musical performer with a full head of blonde hair (though not in the first video), and a golden pair of pipes. Unfortunately for him, he hit Hollywood as the movie musical was in its death throes. But he was a trouper, and so he did every sort of musical work that was still available, as a replacement performer in Broadway shows, and in touring companies, and eventually worked his way back into pictures as a straight dramatic actor. He died of pancreatic cancer two years ago, at the age of 75.

 

 

Thanks to colin1uk and TopMovieScenes.