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The Windmills of Your Mind

Music composed by Michel Legrand (French).
English lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
French lyrics by Eddy Marnay.
Featured in "The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)".

Round
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever spinning reel

Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning
Running rings around the moon

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space

Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone

Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space

Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly?
Was it something that you said?

Lovers walk along a shore
Leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand?

Pictures hanging in a hallway
And the fragment of this song
Half-remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong?

(*) When you knew that it was over
You were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever spinning reel

As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Female version
(Petula Clark, Elaine Paige, Nana Mouskouri,
 Alison Moyet, Irini Kyriakidou and Dianne Reeves):
(*) When you knew that it was over
In the autumn of goodbyes
For a moment you could not recall
The color of his eyes

Notes 簡介

A poster of 1968 movie. Click to enlarge (click again to close)
1968年電影海報。 點擊放大(再擊關閉)
This song is featured in the glider flight scene of the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968) (named in Hong Kong as 龍鳳鬥智).

The story is a kind of mind game, played between the lead actor and actress. A debonair, adventuresome bank executive (Steve McQueen) believes he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist, only to match wits with a sexy insurance investigator (Faye Dunaway) who will do anything to get her man.

"Windmills of Your Mind" was a special request by the film director, also the producer. He hoped to get Henry Mancini, but he was unavailable and recommended Michel Legrand, a French composer and jazz pianist. Legrand composed the scores, and worked with the Bergmans, a husband and wife songwriting duo, to compose the lyrics.

The director failed to get Andy Williams to perform the song, so Noel Harrison recorded it, with Michel conducting the orchestra.

With an imaginative mix of psychedelic lyrics and sophisticated melody, the song won the 1969 Oscar for Best Original Song. At the ceremony the song was performed by José Feliciano because Harrison was not on location.

The song has since been covered by many famous singers, including Johnny Mathis (1969), Dusty Springfield (1969), Petula Clark (1969), etc.



這首歌曲，出現在1968年電影《龍鳳鬥智》的一幕滑翔機飛行。

故事描述一場智力遊戲，由男、女主角互相較量。一位風度翩翩、愛冒險的銀行高層（Steve McQueen 飾），相信自己完成一場價值數百萬美元的完美搶劫，結果卻與一名性感的保險調查員（Faye Dunaway 飾）鬥智斗勇，她會不擇手段地緝拿主犯。

《心靈的風車》是電影導演兼製片人的特別要求。原希望找 Henry Mancini 寫歌，但他無法抽身， 遂推薦法國作曲家兼爵士鋼琴家 Michel Legrand。於是 Legrand 創作樂譜，並與夫妻作曲組合 Bergmans 一起填寫歌詞。

導演找 Andy Williams 演唱此曲，又不得要領，因此 Noel Harrison 演唱，錄製時由 Michel 指揮管弦樂隊。

憑藉富有想像力的迷幻歌詞、及精緻的旋律，這首歌贏得1969年奧斯卡最佳原創歌曲獎。在典禮上，歌曲由 José Feliciano 演唱，因為 Harrison 缺席。

此後，歌曲被許多著名歌手翻唱，包括 Johnny Mathis （1969）、Dusty Springfield （1969）、Petula Clark （1969）等等。






A poster of 1999 movie. Click to enlarge (click again to close)
1999年電影海報。 點擊放大(再擊關閉)
The lyrics depicting math shapes, things logical and illogical. The story is so good, and the song so enticing, that there is a remake of the movie in 1999 (named in Hong Kong as 偷天遊戲), featuring the same song.

This time a self-made billionaire (Pierce Brosnan) is not satisfied with things money can buy, but sets his eyes on priceless masterpieces of art. After the theft of a famous Monet painting from a reputed museum, he is the main suspect by the museum's insurance investigator (Rene Russo). Her job is to get the picture back, no matter how she accomplishes her mission. Unfortunately, she gets involved too deeply with him to keep a professional distance. Fortunately, he seems to fall for her, too.

A complicated mind game with romantic undertones plays between them. In an attempt to find out where her loyalties lie, he returns the painting and essentially turns himself in, hoping that her feelings for him will lead to an escape.

The movie ends with a reprise of the Academy Award-winning song "Windmills of Your Mind", performed by Sting (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE).

Later covers of this song include Nana Mouskouri (1993), Neil Diamond (1998), Alison Moyet (2004), Barbra Streisand (2011), etc.


歌詞描繪數學的圖形、合邏輯和非邏輯的事物。故事超好，歌曲旖旎。1999年的翻拍電影，港譯《偷天遊戲》，同樣加入此曲。

這一回，白手起家的億萬富翁（Pierce Brosnan 飾），不滿足有錢買得到的，把目光投向無價的藝術作品。在著名博物館盜竊 Monet 名畫後，他成為博物館保險調查員 (Rene Russo 飾) 的主嫌疑犯。不管如何完成使命，她的工作就是要把名畫尋回。不幸的是，她與他的關係太深，無法保持專業距離。幸運的是，似乎他也愛上了她。

兩者之間，展開一場複雜的智力遊戲，帶有浪漫色彩。為了試探她的忠誠，他歸還名畫，基本上是自首，希望彼此的感情能讓他逃脫。

電影結束前，重奏奧斯卡獲獎歌曲《Windmills of Your Mind》，由 Sting （Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE）演唱。

後期翻唱此曲的，包括 Nana Mouskouri （1993）、Neil Diamond （1998）、Alison Moyet （2004）、Barbra Streisand （2011）等等。





Lyrics Duo 歌詞二人組

Oscar winning lyricist Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Click to enlarge (click again to close)
奧斯卡獲獎作詞人 Marilyn 和 Alan Bergman。 Click to enlarge (click again to close)
Married in 1958, Alan and Marilyn Bergman were an American songwriting duo. The Bergmans had a distinguished career. They were honored with 4 Emmys, 3 Oscars, 2 Grammys. In 1980, they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1996, the Bergmans received from the National Academy of Songwriters the Lifetime Achievement Award.

In a Songwriters' Workshop, Marilyn Bergman recalled how this song came about:

There was a scene in which [Thomas Crown] is flying a glider for pleasure while he's planning the bank heist, and the director shot six- or seven-minutes of him circling in the glider -- which is a dream for a songwriter: no dialogue, no sound effects, just a little swoosh of wind.
       Norman Jewison, the director, wanted a song that exposed no character, that didn't tell any plot - he just wanted the restlessness and uneasiness of the character underlined. Michel played us six or seven wonderful melodies, and we agreed to sleep on it. The next morning all three of us had independently chosen this oddball melody, almost baroque in feel. It was the opposite of what we had thought we would have chosen the night before.
Alan Bergman added:
I think we chose it because it's kind of a ribbon, a circular melody that reflected the flight of a glider very well. The lyric we wrote was stream-of-consciousness. We felt that the song had to be a mind trip of some kind.
       When we finished we said: 'What do we call this? It's got to have a title. That line is kind of interesting.' So we restructured the song so that the line appeared again at the end. It came out of the body of the song. I think we were thinking, you know when you try to fall asleep at night and you can't turn your brain off and thoughts and memories tumble.
Marilyn 與 Alan Bergman 於1958年結婚，是美國歌曲創作二人組。Bergman 倆人成就傑出，獲得 4項艾美獎、3項奧斯卡獎和 2項格萊美獎。1980年，齊齊入選作曲家名人堂。1996年，美國國家作曲家學院，頒授 Bergman 夫婦終身成就獎。

在作曲家研討會上，Marilyn Bergman 回憶這首歌的創作過程：

有一場是 [Thomas Crown] 在計劃搶劫銀行時，駕駛滑翔機享受樂趣。導演拍攝一段滑翔機空中盤旋，大約六、七分鐘 —— 這是作曲家夢寐以求：沒有對話、沒有音效，只有一陣風聲。
       導演 Norman Jewison 想要一首不透露任何角色、不講述任何情節的歌曲 —— 只想強調主角的心緒不寧。Michel 為我們演奏六、七首美妙的旋律，大家同意需時想想。翌日早上，三人不約而同，選擇這首古怪的旋律，感覺幾乎是巴洛克風格：奇形怪狀。這個結果，與我們早一晚的屬意，完全相反。
Alan Bergman 補充道：
我們之所以選擇它，我想是因為旋律循環，如同絲帶，反映滑翔機的飛行，好得很。我們寫的歌詞，是流水意識。我們覺得，這首歌必須是某種心靈之旅。
       完成後，我們說：「歌曲怎麼稱呼？ 必須有標題。這一句蠻有趣。」因此重組歌曲，讓這句在結尾再現，從歌曲主體抽出。大概我們在想，晚上試圖入睡時，若無法關閉大腦，思潮和記憶就會翻騰。
Legrand created a series of melodic concentric circles, and the Bergman’s reflected those musical patterns with striking lyrical precision.

On the structural level alone, this song is extraordinary. The melody always refers to the lyrics, and vice versa. Both are entwined, sympathetically flowing and cyclical, with those interesting seventh chords thrown in there that create an aural shadow of portent along the way.

Legrand 創造一系列音樂旋律，貌似同心圓；而 Bergman 夫婦以觸目的精準度，在歌詞中反映這些音樂模式。

僅在結構層面上，這首歌曲就非比尋常。旋律總是環繞歌詞，反之亦然。兩者互扣，充滿同情地流動和循環，加上別緻的七和弦點綴，產生一種預感式聽覺陰影。

French Version: Windmills of my Heart 法語版：心中的風車

Les moulins de mon coeur by Michel Legrand. Click to enlarge (click again to close)
Michel Legrand《我心中的磨坊》。 點擊放大(再擊關閉)
Michel Legrand and lyricist Eddy Marnay composed a French version of the song ‟Les Moulins de mon Coeur”. The song was first recorded in 1968 by Marcel Amont.

Known by the professional name Eddy Marnay, Edmond Bacri was a renowned French songwriter and lyricist.

The French lyrics offered a similar cosmic whimsicality to the English version. For an English translation of the French lyrics, click show.

Michel Legrand 聯同填詞人 Eddy Marnay，創作歌曲的法語版本《Les Moulins de mon Coeur》（Windmills of my Heart）。歌曲由 Marcel Amont 於1968年首次錄製。

Edmond Bacri 以專業名字 Eddy Marnay 見稱，是著名法國作曲家兼作詞家。

法語歌詞與英語版本類似，提供穿梭宇宙的異想天開。見識法語歌詞的英文翻譯，請單擊顯示。






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