<P> In the original 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair , the song is heard -- sung by Noel Harrison -- during opening credits ; and , during the film , in a scene in which the character Thomas Crown flies a glider at the glider airport in Salem , New Hampshire : having edited the rough cut for this scene utilizing the Beatles track `` Strawberry Fields Forever '' producer / director Norman Jewison commissioned an original song be written for the glider scene which would reference the ambivalent feelings of Thomas Crown as he engages in a favorite pastime while experiencing the tension of preparing to commit a major robbery . Alan Bergman : `` Michel ( Legrand ) played us ( ie . Alan and Marilyn Bergman ) seven or eight melodies . We listened to all of them and decided to wait until the next day to choose one . We three decided on the same one , a long baroque melody ... The lyric we wrote was stream - of - consciousness . We felt that the song had to be a mind trip of some kind '' -- `` The ( eventual ) title was ( originally ) a line at the end of a section ... 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 ca n't turn your brain off and thoughts and memories tumble . '' </P>
<P> In the original 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair , the song is heard -- sung by Noel Harrison -- during opening credits ; and , during the film , in a scene in which the character Thomas Crown flies a glider at the glider airport in Salem , New Hampshire : having edited the rough cut for this scene utilizing the Beatles track `` Strawberry Fields Forever '' producer / director Norman Jewison commissioned an original song be written for the glider scene which would reference the ambivalent feelings of Thomas Crown as he engages in a favorite pastime while experiencing the tension of preparing to commit a major robbery . Alan Bergman : `` Michel ( Legrand ) played us ( ie . Alan and Marilyn Bergman ) seven or eight melodies . We listened to all of them and decided to wait until the next day to choose one . We three decided on the same one , a long baroque melody ... The lyric we wrote was stream - of - consciousness . We felt that the song had to be a mind trip of some kind '' -- `` The ( eventual ) title was ( originally ) a line at the end of a section ... 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 ca n't turn your brain off and thoughts and memories tumble . '' </P>
who sang the original song windmills of your mind
who sang the original song windmills of your mind
Noel Harrison
Noel Harrison