Lee Marvin - Wandering Star
From film: Paint your Wagon
Music: Frederick Loewe
Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner
Performed by: Lee Marvin
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
I was born under a wand'rin' star,
Wheels are made for rollin'
Mules are made to pack,
I never seen a sight that didn't look better lookin' back;
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
Mud can make you pris'ner and the plains can bake you dry.
Snow can burn you eyes but only people make you cry.
Home is made for comin' from,for dreams of goin' to
Which, with any luck will never come true.
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
Do I know where hell is? Hell is in hello.
Heaven is "Goodbye forever. It's time for me to go."
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
A wand'rin', wand'rin' star.
Mud can make you pris'ner and the plains can bake you dry.
Snow can burn you eyes but only people make you cry.
Home is made for comin' from,for dreams of goin' to
Which, with any luck will never come true.
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
When I get to heaven, tie me to a tree,
Or I'll begin to roam and soon you'll know where I will be.
I was born under a wand'rin' star.
A wand'rin', wand'rin' star.
Trivia:
He says learned to "act" in the Marines, trying to act unafraid during ferocious combat, which brought him a Purple Heart during invasion of Saipan.
Was a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson and twice a descendant of male line relatives of George Washington.
Named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who was his second cousin three times removed.
Revisted Saipan (where he was wounded during World War II) in 1967, where his guide was P.F. Kluge, who went on to write Eddie and the Cruisers (1983).
While serving in the Marine Corps he became best friends with John Miara of Malden, MA. Miara became Marvin's model for the character of Maj. Reisman in The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Together with actors Nicolas Cage (Adaptation. (2002)) José Ferrer (Moulin Rouge (1952)) and Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)), he is the only actor with an Oscar nomination for playing multiple characters in a film (in Cat Ballou (1965), he plays two characters, Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn). Marvin is the only one who actually won one for a double role.
Was as surprised as anyone when his recording of "Wandering Star", from the Paint Your Wagon (1969) soundtrack, became a surprise hit, earning the Gold Record (the standard in those days) for one million copies sold in 1969.
Not a sentimental man by nature, Marvin kept only four souvenirs of his career over the years. These were his Best Actor Oscar for Cat Ballou (1965), the citation he received from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his performance in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), his Gold Record for "Wandering Star" and the high-heeled shoe that Vivien Leigh beat him with in Ship of Fools (1965).
Turned down the lead role of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. in Patton (1970).
Was Steven Spielberg's first choice to play Quint in Jaws (1975).
His body was interred next to that of Joe Louis in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.
