JUDY GARLAND at 21 singing OVER THE RAINBOW remastered audio. Judy Garland singing Over The Rainbow at the age of 21. Filmed during a broadcast of the Command Performance radio program.
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
Somewhere over the rainbow, Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true...
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little blue birds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
"Over the rainbow" Recorded by Judy Garland for the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" Music by: Harold Arlen Lyrics by: Yip Harburg A song that has stood the test of time (originally written in 1938) and is one of the most beautiful songs ever penned.
Over the Rainbow
"Over the Rainbow" | |
---|---|
Song by Judy Garland | |
Published | 1939 by Leo Feist, Inc. |
Composer(s) | Harold Arlen |
Lyricist(s) | E.Y. Harburg |
"Over the Rainbow" is a ballad by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg.[1] It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in which it was sung by actress Judy Garland[2] in her starring role as Dorothy Gale.[1] It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland's signature song.
About five minutes into the film, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands to listen to her story of an unpleasant incident involving her dog, Toto, and the town spinster, Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton). Aunt Em tells her to "find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble". This prompts her to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, "Someplace where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain", at which point she begins singing.
Background
Composer Harold Arlen and lyricist Yip Harburg often worked in tandem, Harburg generally suggesting an idea or title for Arlen to set to music, before Harburg contributed the lyrics.[3] For their work together on The Wizard of Oz, Harburg claimed his inspiration was "a ballad for a little girl who... was in trouble and... wanted to get away from... Kansas. A dry, arid, colorless place. She had never seen anything colorful in her life except the rainbow". Arlen decided the idea needed "a melody with a long broad line".[4]
By the time all the other songs for the film had been written, Arlen was feeling the pressure of not having the song for the Kansas scene. He often carried blank pieces of music manuscript in his pockets to jot down short melodic ideas. Arlen described how the inspiration for the melody to "Over the Rainbow" came to him suddenly while his wife Anya drove:
"I said to Mrs. Arlen... 'let's go to Grauman's Chinese ... You drive the car, I don't feel too well right now.' I wasn't thinking of work. I wasn't consciously thinking of work, I just wanted to relax. And as we drove by Schwab's Drug Store on Sunset I said, 'Pull over, please.' ... And we stopped and I really don't know why—bless the muses—and I took out my little bit of manuscript and put down what you know now as 'Over the Rainbow.'"[5]
The song was originally sung in A-flat major.[6] Arlen later wrote the contrasting bridge section based on the idea of "a child's piano exercise".[7]
Italian newspaper Il Messaggero has noted a resemblance, both harmonic and melodic, between Over the Rainbow and the theme of the intermezzo (known as Ratcliff's Dream) of Pietro Mascagni's 1895 opera Guglielmo Ratcliff.[8]
The Wizard of Oz
The "Over the Rainbow" and Kansas scenes were directed by the uncredited King Vidor, because the film's main director, Victor Fleming, was called in by David O. Selznick and MGM to direct Gone with the Wind. Fleming would later return to oversee the editing and post-production on The Wizard of Oz. The song was initially deleted from the film after a preview in San Luis Obispo, California, because MGM chief executive Louis B. Mayer thought it "slowed down the picture," was far over the heads of its targeted child audience, and sounded "like something for Jeanette MacDonald, not for a little girl singing in a barnyard". Fleming, producer Mervyn LeRoy, associate producer Arthur Freed, and Roger Edens, who was Judy Garland's vocal coach and mentor, fought together to have the song reinserted into the film and they eventually won.[citation needed]
At the start of the film, part of the song is played by the MGM orchestra over the opening credits. A reprise of the song was deleted after being filmed. The reprise was to be sung by Dorothy while she was locked in the Wicked Witch's castle, helplessly awaiting death as the hourglass is running out. Although the visual portion of that reprise is presumably lost, the soundtrack still exists and was included in the 2-CD Deluxe Edition of the film's soundtrack released by Rhino Entertainment in 1995. In that intense rendition, Dorothy cries her way through it, unable to finish, concluding with, "I'm frightened, Auntie Em, I'm frightened!" This phrase was retained in the film and is followed immediately by Aunt Em's brief appearance in the crystal ball, where she is soon replaced by the visage of the Wicked Witch, (Margaret Hamilton), mocking and taunting Dorothy before turning the camera toward her cackle. Another instrumental version is played in the underscore in the final scene and over the closing credits.[citation needed]
The music was played on a particularly renowned Stradivarius violin.[9]
Recordings by Judy Garland
On October 7, 1938, Judy Garland recorded the song on the MGM soundstage with an arrangement by Murray Cutter. In September 1939, a studio recording of the song, not from the film soundtrack, was recorded and released as a single for Decca. In March 1940, that same recording was included on a Decca 78 four-record studio cast album entitled The Wizard of Oz. Although this isn't the version that appeared in the film, Decca continued to release the "cast album" into the 1960s after it was reissued on disc, a 331⁄3-rpm album.
The film version of "Over the Rainbow" was unavailable to the public until the soundtrack was released by MGM in 1956 to coincide with the television premiere of The Wizard of Oz.[10] The soundtrack version has been re-released several times over the years, including a deluxe edition by Rhino in 1995.[11]
After The Wizard of Oz appeared in 1939, "Over the Rainbow" became Garland's signature song. She performed it for thirty years and sang it as she had for the film. She said she wanted to remain true to the character of Dorothy and to the message of being somewhere over the rainbow.[12]
Child of Sorrow
by SONG XIAOXIAN
he’s always biting on his lower lip, his riches
are as meagre as my kindnesses
one time, I turned out the collar
of his shirt for him, he blamed himself
perhaps, happiness is in the back pocket of his pants
anyhow, the money from his father
is enough to send him to school
his bike makes a creaking noise
and like the child of sorrow is always crying, he doesn’t have many clothes
every night, he shares an old desk with his ma
she does her marking, the child of sorrow learns his lessons
the 20-watt globe is just bright enough, just bright enough
homework done, the child of sorrow gets into his cot
he sleeps on a battered old sleeping mat
but the window is big enough, he can see the stars
the stars sparkle, never sleeping
great handfuls of them
just like toys in a dream—
has the child of sorrow had a glimpse of happiness then?
The Cry of the Children
[[Alas, alas, why do you gaze at me with your eyes, my children.]]—Medea.
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