Maurice Jarre was asked by director David Lean to write the score for Doctor Zhivago, including a theme for the character of Lara, played by Julie Christie.
Lean informed Jarre he was working under time constraint and that the score needed to be composed and recorded in around ten weeks.
Jarre spent the weekend in the mountains above Los Angeles, and by Monday, he found "Lara's Theme" when composing on the piano in an hour.
Edgar Stanistreet, a street musician from Philadelphia, claimed that he was asked to play the song over the telephone to an MGM executive and was later taken into the studio to record.
Connie Francis was initially interested in recording the song, but withdrew from the project when the lyrics were presented to her because she thought of them as too "corny".
by Karel Gott; Swedish, "Nå'nstans, nå'ngång" ("Somewhere Sometime") by Country Four and Marianne Kock; and Danish, "Et Sted Min Ven" ("Somewhere My Friend") by Poul Bundgaard.