The First Thing You Know

Album: Paint Your Wagon soundtrack (1969)
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Songfacts®:

  • The third song in the 1969 musical Paint Your Wagon was composed by André Previn and written by Alan Jay Lerner. Performed solo by Lee Marvin as Ben Rumson, it is half hymn and half cynical commentary on civilization.

    "The First Thing You Know" did not appear in the original 1951 stage version. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

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