"Over The Rainbow," often wrongly referred to as "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," is a classic Academy Award-winning ballad, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. It was written and composed for the 1939 movie The Wizard Of Oz, and was sung by late actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale. Over time, it would become Garland's signature song.
Approximately five minutes into the film's story, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get either her Aunt Em or her Uncle Henry to listen to her relate an unpleasant incident involving her dog Toto and Miss Almira Gulch. Dorothy's Aunt Em, clearly annoyed with what her niece is trying to say, tells her to "find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble."
This admonition prompts Dorothy to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, "'Some place 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....
Lyrics[]
Somewhere over the rainbow,
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
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
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow;
Why, then, oh, why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow,
Why, oh why can't I?
Judy Garland, as Dorothy Gale, sings "Over The Rainbow" in the key of Ab (A flat) Major.
Trivia[]
- "Over The Rainbow," whose lyrics were written by Edhar Yipsel "Yip" Harburg and whose music was composed by Harold Arlen, was almost completely excluded from The Wizard Of Oz, in which Judy Garland starred and in which she originally popularized it. However, Arthur Freed, the producer of the film for MGM, fought the longest and the hardest to keep it in the film's song score, fighting tooth and nail to prevent it from being removed, and he was not only ultimately successful but also vindicated when the song, and by extension its lyricist Harburg and its composer Arlen, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It became Garland's de facto theme as well as her signature song.
- The song was briefly featured and heard in the 2000 fantasy comedy movie Little Nicky by Happy Madison Productions with the titular bumbling devil hero's aspiring gay actor friend Todd holding a mirror and correcting his late grandmother about his self-worth within that scene in the movie, and it was featured in its ukulele version at the ending of the 2004 Happy Madison Productions romantic comedy movie 50 First Dates with the beloved Goldfield Syndrome patient now married to Henry Roth and have a daughter named Nicole.