They Call the Wind Maria They Call the Wind Maria "They Call the Wind Maria" is an American popular song with lyrics written by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe for their 1951 Broadway musical, "Paint Your Wagon", which is set in the California Gold Rush. Rufus Smith originally sang the song on Broadway, and Joseph Leader was the original singer in London's West End. It quickly became a runaway hit, and during the Korean War, the song was among the "popular music listened to by the troops". Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra recorded the song in 1951, and it was among the
They Call the Wind Maria 100 Western songs of all time. The song gained renewed popularity during the American folk music revival. In 1959, it was included on the Kingston Trio's first live album, "...From the Hungry i", which reached #2 on the Billboard Pop chart and won a RIAA gold record in 1960. It was also included on the Smothers Brothers first album, "The Songs and Comedy of the Smothers Brothers! Recorded at the Purple Onion, San Francisco", released in 1961. Other folk singers who performed the song include Josh White and Burl Ives. Musical historian John Bush Jones wrote that the song "so