Legrand used a long, baroque-style melody that rises in upward patterns before descending back to the home note.
The song is primarily based on the E minor harmonic scale , though much of the melody utilizes the natural minor. It features an extensive use of the circle of fifths , which creates a sense of perpetual motion. Michel Legrand-The Windmills of Your Mind(Saxophone)
The piece is famous for its "circular" feel, mirroring the "circles within circles" imagery of the lyrics. Legrand used a long, baroque-style melody that rises
"The Windmills of Your Mind," composed by for the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair , is a masterpiece of circular melodic structure and baroque-influenced pop. Its hypnotic, repetitive phrases make it a popular choice for saxophone, which can expressively navigate its shifting minor keys and descending fifths. Musical Composition and Structure The piece is famous for its "circular" feel,
Directed to replace the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" in a movie scene, the songwriters created a "mind trip" with stream-of-consciousness lyrics and surreal imagery like a "carousel running rings around the moon". The Saxophone Interpretation
The saxophone's vocal-like quality is well-suited for the song's melancholic and "inquisitive" nature.