Mariah blows the stars around

This fall we added another equine to the field, Mariah, who has been living in Putney for many  years. Her owner, Elizabeth, has had Mariah for twenty years, but is now living in London, and Lee Lee, who was caring for Mariah, has moved west. And Carrie needed a horse to care for and love and ride and Mark and Rebecca and Ellinore have more than enough energy and interest in another beast and the barn has an extra stall and Mac and Reme, well, we would see.

And so, since that fall day we have been humming the Ballad, that I know from the Kingston Trio, twritten by Alan Lerner and produced by Alan Lerner in the 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon. You know the lyrics:

Away out here they’ve got a name for rain and wind and fire. The rain is Tess, the fire’s Joe. They call the wind Maria.
Maria blows the stars around and sets the clouds a-flyin’. Maria makes the mountains sound like folks was out there dyin’.

Maria. (Maria). Maria. (Maria). They call the wind Maria.

Before I knew Maria’s name and heard her wail and whinin’, I had a gal. She had me and the sun was always shinin’.
But then one day I left my gal. I left her far behind me and now I’m lost, so gol’ darn lost not even God can find me.
Maria. (Maria.) Maria. (Maria.) They call the wind Maria.

Out here they have a name for rain and wind and fire only. When you’re lost and all alone, there ain’t no name for lonely.

And I’m a lost and lonely man without a star to guide me. Maria blow my love to me. I need my gal beside me.
Maria. (Maria.) They call the wind Maria. Maria! Maria. (Maria.) They call the wind Maria.

*

Maria, Mariah, Rye, Rye Rye, Rhizome, Rizze–all describing the new girl beside Mac in the barn. Welcome, Mariah!