Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Though many dictionaries and songbooks list the most popular lyrics, no one knows for sure what Judy Garland meant when she crooned, "Somewhere over the rainbow way up high."
This article does a deep dive into the clues in and around the song to finally answer...or at least get closer to answering...that question.
Start your introduction with:
The lyrics of Somewhere Over The Rainbow have long been a topic of speculation. Though many dictionaries and songbooks list the most popular lyrics, no one knows for sure what Judy Garland meant when she crooned, "Somewhere over the rainbow way up high. Where dreams come true/Where wishes come true/There's a land that I've heard of/Somewhere over the rainbow."
This article does a deep dive into the clues in and around the song to finally answer...or at least get close to answering...that question.
Start your introduction with:
Did Judy Garland ever say whether she did or did not intend for Somewhere Over The Rainbow to be a sequel or parallel to an earlier song? If so, what was the original song?
The article includes an amusing story about Judy Garland's alleged dissatisfaction with her personal publicist, Gladys Mortenson.
The article includes an amusing story about Judy Garland's alleged dissatisfaction with her personal publicist, Gladys Mortenson.
Did any of the lyrics of Somewhere Over The Rainbow come from a poem? Or even a song written by someone else? What poems did Judy Garland use as models?
The article includes an amusing story about Judy Garland's alleged dissatisfaction with her personal publicist, Gladys Mortenson.
My favorite version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow is sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. They were on "The Perry Como Show" and she was on my favorite TV show, "The Dean Martin Show", in 1954. I was a little kid, probably 4 or 5 at the time. What do you know that I don't? Did they exchange verses to their respective versions of Somewhere Over The Rainbow?
The article includes an amusing story about Judy Garland's alleged dissatisfaction with her personal publicist, Gladys Mortenson.
The article includes an amusing story about Judy Garland's alleged dissatisfaction with her personal publicist, Gladys Mortenson.
It's sad to think that Somewhere Over The Rainbow was still being performed in Pittsburgh in the early 1970s. Although the lyrics haven't changed, there have been significant changes in some of the syntactical structures over time--for example, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps it was, perhaps it was to catch a bird."
I suspect that the song was written by Yip Harburg. But who wrote the music?
The article includes an amusing story about Judy Garland's alleged dissatisfaction with her personal publicist, Gladys Mortenson.
The article includes an amusing story about Judy Garland's alleged dissatisfaction with her personal publicist, Gladys Mortenson.