Wayward Wind
Western Music
The Lone Writer  

Western Song: Wayward Wind

The Wayward Wind is a country song about a sad story of a woman who falls for a man who is not ready to settle down. The narrator of the song tells of their meeting and a broken promise. And the woman finally accepts that the man is a person who’ll never stay put, even for love.

Stanley Lebowsky is the composer of the song while Herb Newman is the lyricist. Members of The Western Writers of America included the song in the Top 100 Western Songs of all time.

Table of Contents

Wayward Wind Hit Recordings

  • Versions of the song were recorded by American pop singer Gogi Grant, American country music singer and actor Tex Ritter, and English singer Jimmy Young in 1956. Among these artists, the version of Grant was the biggest seller in the United States and Ritter’s version was in the United Kingdom. With all the combined recorded versions, the song reached No. 1 on the Cash Box chart while Grant’s version reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart on its own. Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1956 and became a Gold record. 
  • Grants recording was reissued and reached Billboard No. 50 and Cash Box No. 78 in 1961. American singer Patsy Cline, also recorded the song in the same year. 
  • In 1963, Frank Ifield recorded his version of the song which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks duration.
  • The version of Irish flautist James Galway with American country singer Sylvia on vocals made it in the Billboard country chart. In 1982, the single produced by Bill Pursell in Nashville was released and in 1983, the song rose to No. 57.

Popular Cover Versions

Some of the notable cover versions of the song are recorded by the following artists:

  • Gene Vincent with the Blue Caps 
  • Gogi Grant
  • Tex Ritter 
  • Jimmy Young 
  • Frank Ifield 
  • James Galway featuring Sylvia 
  • Neil Young

Listen (Gogi Grant Version)

The Wayward Wind Lyrics

The wayward wind is a restless wind
A restless wind that yearns to wander
And he was born the next of kin
The next of kin to the wayward wind

In a lonely shack by a railroad track
He spent his younger days
And I guess the sound of the outward-bound
Made him a slave to his wand'rin' ways

And the wayward wind is a restless wind
A restless wind that yearns to wander
And he was born the next of kin
The next of kin to the wayward wind

Oh, I met him there in a border town
He vowed we'd never part
Though he tried his best to settle down
I'm now alone with a broken heart

And the wayward wind is a restless wind
A restless wind that yearns to wander
And he was born the next of kin
The next of kin to the wayward wind

The next of kin to the wayward wind

1 Comment

  1. […] Western Writing enlightens us that the song was composed by Stanley Lebowsky, and Herb Newman wrote the lyrics. It had different versions, but Gogi Grant’s was the most successful in the U.S., but Ritter’s was also a hit in the U.K. The singer narrates that he met a girl who was ready to settle down, and he vowed they would stay together forever. Unfortunately, he was not built for family life, so he left her and broke her heart. […]

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