I began watching Steve McQueen on TV in the 60s. He played bounty hunter Josh Randall in the series titled Wanted: Dead or Alive. McQueen was one of a kind. There has never been another leading man before or since that could portray his depth of emotions with little more than a blank expression that conveyed more depth in silence than any other actor can summon forth with every word and gesture they have.
McQueen never appeared in a bad movie but my favorite is The Great Escape. He has the courage to defy the Nazi’s and escape from the concentration camp on a captured motorcycle. When he jumps the tangle foot wire, the evil Nazis in hot pursuit, you know without being told that this is a man of substance. Hopelessly tangled in the wire, he awaits the hoard, still defiant, playing with a baseball, the silent symbol of American resolve.
Tonight I was listening to Dusty Springfield, my absolute favorite diva. She was singing her cover of Windmills of Your Mind from McQueen’s film The Thomas Crown Affair (watch the original and not the remake). The song is pure poetry with words and music by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman and Michel Legrand.
Here are the lyrics and I beg you to listen to Dusty’s version. If you’re not yet a fan, you will be. Hey, and please take my advice and catch a few old McQueen flicks. You’ll be hooked too, I promise.
WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND
Like a circle in a spiral,
like a wheel within a wheel.
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
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 on it's 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 it's 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 on it's 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 I said
Lovers walking along the shore,
Leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand
Pictures hanging in a hallway
And a fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you 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 wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circle that you find
In the windmills of your mind
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
Were you 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 wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind