They Call the Wind Mariah or "They Call the Wind Maria" is a song from the 1969 Hollywood film Paint Your Wagon. [1] Mariah is named after the song. During the Music Box Tour, the song's music was played as an "introduction" at the beginning of the concert[2]
Background[]
In George Rippey Stewart's 1941 novel Storm, he names the storm that is the protagonist of his story Maria. In 1947, Stewart wrote a new introduction for a reprint of the book, and discussed the pronunciation of "Maria": "The soft Spanish pronunciation is fine for some heroines, but our Maria here is too big for any man to embrace and much too boisterous."He went on to say, "So put the accent on the second syllable, and pronounce it 'rye'".[1]
The success of Stewart's novel was one factor that motivated U.S. military meteorologists to start the informal practice of giving women's names to storms in the Pacific during World War II. The practice became official in 1945. In 1953, a similar system of using women's names was adopted for North Atlantic storms. This continued until 1979, when men's names were incorporated into the system. Although Stewart's novel is set in 1935, the novel and its effect on meteorology later inspired Lerner and Lowe to write a song for their play about the California gold rush, and like Stewart, they too gave a wind storm the name Maria, which is pronounced The lines throughout the song end in feminine rhymes mostly using the long 'i' sound /aɪ/, echoing the stress pattern and vowel sound of the name Maria.[1]
It is assumed that between 1969-1970 the parents of Mariah Carey saw the film Paint Your Wagon and use the name for their daughter who was born in 1970.[source?]
Live performances[]
The song's music was played as an "introduction" at the beginning of the Music Box Tour concert[2]
Lyrics[]
They call the wind Maria)
Away out here they got a name
For rain and wind and fire
The rain is Tess, the fire's Jo
And they call the wind Maria
Maria blows the stars around
And sends the clouds a-flyin'
Maria makes the mountains sound
Like folks were up there dyin'
(Maria, Maria)
They call the wind Maria
Before I knew Maria's name
And heard her wail and whining
I had a girl and she had me
And the sun was always shining
But then one day I left my girl
I left her far behind me
And now I'm lost, so gol-durned lost
Not even God can find me
(Maria, Maria
They call the wind Maria)
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
Maria, blow my love to me
I need my girl beside me
(Maria, Maria
They call the wind Maria)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 They Call the Wind Maria Wikipedia retrieved 6/27/2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jaeger, Barbara. The Bergen Record, "Mariah Carey Goes Live", December 13, 1993. Retrieved 6/27/2020.