Wind

Bob Nolan
Original copyright: December 10, 1936

Low, thru the trees, comes a weary sigh
Blown from a windswept sea,
Sendin’ the dark clouds thru the sky.
Wish you were here with me.

Refrain:
Oo-oo-oo. Listen to the wind, wonder what he’s sayin’?
Oo-oo-oo. See that willow bend, everything is swayin’.
Oo-oo-oo. Seems to be a sadness in the sighing of the wind.

Oo-oo-oo. Wonder where he goes? Darling, can you hear me?
Oo-oo-oo. Something that he knows seems to bring you near me.
Oo-oo-oo. Thought I heard you whisper in the sighin’ of the wind.

Sets my weary heart a-longing, yearning, dreaming.
Starlight lost its meaning since you went away.

Oo-oo-oo. Now he’s turning cold, wonder if he’s lonely?
Oo-oo-oo. Winter in my soul, longing for you only.
Oo-oo-oo. Can’t you hear me calling in the sighin’ of the wind?

"When you look at the scenic grandeur of the west and stop and think, you realize that the winds of the west are still busy painting the scenery before you. The wind moves the cloud to where it silhouettes the blue and casts a deeper shadow on the mountainside. It bends the tree your way and rolls the tumbleweed across your path. The winds of the west are everywhere painting a picture - a picture that is never finished." (Bob Nolan, Teleways Transcription No. 92.)

"Wind" was one of Bob Nolan's first songs and its conception was romantic. In their early days, The Sons of the Pioneers and the Stafford Sisters (Christine, Pauline and Jo) often worked together on radio and enjoyed each other’s company after work. Together they put together a pilot program planning to call it The Sons and Daughters of the Pioneers. For some reason, the program was aired only once in 1935 and was abandoned.

Bob told his friend Richard Goodman that he composed "Wind" on a beach in Oregon during a visit there with one of the Stafford Sisters. He always felt bad about it, he said, because Christine caught pneumonia from the experience and nearly died. Jo Stafford confirmed: “Bob and Christine had quite a little interest in each other for quite awhile.” (Jo Stafford to EM, November 12, 2001).

The Sons of the Pioneers included it in their early Standard Radio Transcriptions and in their Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage series but it was not available commercially until 1951 by RCA Victor. After 1940 they dropped the introductory verse. In 1947 and 1947 they had recorded the song for RCA, experimenting with various wind effects, but it was unissued. Collectors have now made these unissued recordings available.

Bob wrote it early in 1935 but registered it for copyright on December 10, 1936.

The sheet music was published in the first edition of Songs of the Prairie Folio No. 3, © 1937 Cross & Winge. By the time the second edition came out, Songs of the Prairie Folio No. 3, © 1937 by American Music, Inc., “from the motion picture Law of the Plains” was added above the title. We have not viewed Law of the Plains so cannot verify its use in the movie. Law of the Plains (May 3,1938) was a Columbia/Charles Starrett film. According to Ken Griffis, it was also used in Call of the Rockies (February 2, 1938) another Columbia/Starrett film.

Wind (American Music, Inc.)

SONS OF THE PIONEERS TRANSCRIPTION RECORDINGS

Standard Radio transcription No. 2569 (May 1935)

Orthacoustic Symphonies of the Sage, transcription (064447)

NBC Thesaurus transcriptions, LPT 1611 (courtesy of Wallace Smith)

10-2-4 Time radio show, No. 507 (64858-04) (April 13, 1945)

Teleways Radio Productions transcriptions, Nos. 9, 59, 91, 155, 191, and 224 (c. 1947-48)

Lucky U Ranch radio shows (courtesy of Larry Hopper)
- Transcriptions disc TR-145 Special Bob Nolan Program (December 14, 1951)
- Transcriptions disc TR-226/227 (February 5, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-290/291 (March 20, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-423/424 (June 23, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-509/510 (October 8, 1952)
- Transcriptions disc TR-585/586 (December 1, 1952)

Smokey the Bear radio show, episode No. 7 (1955)