somewhere over the rainbow essay

• harold arlen
• Over The Rainbow
• somewhere over the rainbow
• The Wizard of Oz
• Yip Harburg

Yip Harburg: The Man Who Brought the Rainbow to The Wizard of Oz

by Paul Zollo January 20, 2020, 2:51 pm

“Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” like so many classic songs, was born in Los Angeles. With music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg, it’s become one of the most beloved songs in the history of American popular music. Yet a rainbow was never part of the screenplay for the famous 1939 movie. It was entirely the concoction of Yip. He is the man who brought the rainbow to The Wizard of Oz. Knowing Dorothy would sing a ballad yearning for escape from the monochrome farmland of her Kansas home in the film’s opening sequence, the lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg gave his collaborator, the composer Harold Arlen, a dummy title, a fragment of lyric to use to hang a melody on, a direction, a mood. As a symbol for all the colors unseen to Dorothy in her black & white world, he conceived the rainbow, although the word ‘rainbow’ is never used once in L. Frank Baum’s book. He handed Arlen a title: “I Want to get on the Other Side of the Rainbow.”

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Arlen took that title and ran with it, composing the famous melody for the song . Yip, however, was less than pleased when he heard it, as he recalled in an interview late in his life. “I said, ‘My God, Harold, this is a 12 year old girl wanting to be somewhere over the rainbow. It isn’t Nelson Eddy!’” Arlen, although crest-fallen, labored all week to write a new tune, but nothing could match the power and poignancy of the original. He asked Yip to reconsider, so Yip asked Ira Gershwin for advice. Ira suggested Arlen abandon his grandiose piano accompaniment to play it instead like a pop song, and that that made all the difference. Yip relented.

But writing lyrics for it was tough, considering that Arlen began with a dramatic octave leap, hard to lyricize. Yip soon realized it would work by changing the line from the “other side” to “over the rainbow,” for the mellifluence of the long o, and that led him to the opening word, “somewhere,” which fit the octave ascension ideally. It was everything he wanted and more, and a classic was created.

Though “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” is his most famous song, and one of the most famous songs ever written (declared the “Number One Song of the 20 th Century” by the NEA and the “number one film song of all time”  by AFI), he’s written lyrics for many other classics, including “April In Paris,” with music by Vernon Duke, “It’s Only A Paper Moon” with music  by Arlen, Groucho Marx’s signature song “Lydia The  Tattooed Lady,” also with Arlen, and “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime,” written with Jay Gorney.  

That Yip wrote “Dime” is significant, as unlike many of his contemporaries writing Broadway musical songs, Yip’s songs were about the common man, reflecting an America beyond Broadway, the America of  breadlines, poverty and the downtrodden. He affirmed the political symbolism he found in Oz —  the scarecrow heartland farmer who feels he’s too dumb to think though he has abundant wisdom; the factory worker so dehumanized by the assembly lines of modern times that he’s reduced to a tin man with no heart. Even “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” rings with the exultation of the little people rejoicing at the fall of a tyrant.

A dedicated socialist his entire life, even his name represents his politics. Though born Isadore Hochberg and called Edgar Harburg as a kid, he became Yip not for the Yiddish name Yipsel, as if often assumed, but for YPSL, an acronym for Young People’s Socialist League. Born in 1896 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, he attended high school with his pal Ira Gershwin, who shared his love for the ingenious lyrics of  W.S.Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan. They attended City College together, after which Yip went to work in a Uruguay factory rather than fight in World War I. “He did not believe that Capitalism was the answer to the human community  and that indeed it was the destruction of the human spirit,” said his son, Ernie Yarburg, “and he would not fight its wars.” After the war he came home, got married, had two kids, and became a co-owner of an electric company. When it went bankrupt following the crash of 1929, he was destitute and desperate. Like many others in those circumstances, he turned to songwriting.

Via Ira Gershwin, Yip hooked up with the composer Jay Gorney and began writing Broadway musicals. The lyric for “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime” was originally written to the tune of a Russian folk song Gorney used in the show “Americana,” and this became the anthem of the Depression, a song both remarkably colloquial and poetic, rooted in the plight of the American everyman who built the railroads and skyscrapers, fought in the army, and was now on the skids, his hand outstretched.

He wrote a multitude of Broadway musicals, and also songs for movies. But never did he forsake his political conscience.  Besides Oz, his most famous show is “Finian’s Rainbow” (with music by Burton Lane), which examined American racism and broke precedent with its racially integrated cast and chorus.

Though he won an Oscar with Arlen in 1940 for Best Song, the blacklist kept him, and scores of other artists suspected of being Communists, from working in movies from 1951 to 1962.

Though he’s famous for his songs from Oz, few know he also wrote much of the dialogue in the film, and conceived the integration of the songs into the plot five years prior to Rodger & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma received acclaim for this exact innovation. Yip was also the final script editor, conducting the rhythms of the narrative exactly as he had for years in Broadway shows. “There were eleven screenwriters,” Ernie Harburg said, “and [Yip] pulled the whole thing together, wrote his own lines and gave the thing a coherence and unity which made it a work of art.”

Though he died in 1981, his work is forever woven into the fabric of American culture, and his promise of a land over the rainbow is as alive today as when he conceived it seventy years ago.

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Oz Anniversary: Behind Somewhere Over the Rainbow

On November 3, 1956, The Wizard of Oz —a film made and released in 1939 by MGM—made its television debut. CBS paid MGM $225,000, a huge amount in ‘56, for the rights to televise the film and to re-broadcast it if the telecast was a success. And what a success it was, becoming the most-watched film of all time as families still gather around their TV sets each year to sing along.

The timeless tunes were written by Harold Arlen and his lyric partner E.Y. Harburg who were assigned the job of scoring Frank Baum’s children’s classic. When they’d finished what Arlen called the “lemon drop” songs (“We’re Off to See the Wizard,” “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead”) the pair turned their attention to a show-stopping ballad. “I felt we needed something with a sweep, a melody with a broad, long line,” Arlen said. “Time was getting short, I was getting anxious. My feeling was that picture songs need to be lush, and picture songs are hard to write.”

The ballad came out of the blue one day while Arlen and his wife were headed to a movie at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. He jotted down the melody in his car while driving on Sunset Boulevard. “It was as if the Lord said, ‘Well, here it is, now stop worrying about it!”

“Over the Rainbow” was his crowning achievement, a song that has come to be, in the words of Judy Garland, “symbolic of everyone’s dreams.” In 2003, it was voted number one movie song of all-time by the American Film Institute.

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No one sings like Judy Garland. What a refreshing arrangement!

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Somewhere Over The Rainbow Musical Analysis

The first song I analyzed was “Over the Rainbow” sung by Judy Garland. This song was written for the movie “The Wizard of Oz” in 1939 and is considered a ballad. Harold Arlen was the composer of this song while lyricist by E.Y Harburg. Harold Arlen came up with the melody for this song while on a drive with his wife. Judy first recorded this song on the MGM soundstage while using arrangements by Murray Cutter. Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, sings this song while trying to get to her aunt and uncle’s house.

However before the movie was produced, producer Mervyn LeRoy and MGM chief executive thought this song slowed down the picture and did not want it part of the movie. On the other hand, Garland’s vocal coach and associate producer, Arthur Freed, argued otherwise and got them to keep the song in the movie.Judy sang this song for the next thirty years and did not alter the lyrics or how she sang it when performing.

She said she did not alter the song at all to show the true meaning of the story.Dorothy, being played by Judy Garland, sings this song while trying to get to her aunt and uncle. Judy sings this song with the help of Victor Young and his orchestra.

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The second song I used was ‘Over the Rainbow” by Sarah Vaughan. Her nickname was “Sassy” and “The Divine One.” “Over the Rainbow” was apart of her album called “In the Land of Hi-Fi”.

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“ This writer never make an mistake for me always deliver long before due date. Am telling you man this writer is absolutely the best. ”

Her version of this song is considered a jazz ballad. When listening to her version of the song you can tell right away some of the differences between Judy Garland’s and Sarah Vaughan’s. Sarah added much of her own spin on things in the song. She held out notes much longer than in the original song. Which with doing that it gave it more rhythm and made it more to the standard of jazz ballads. In the listening guide chart you can see that with looking at the seconds and when the lyrics were sung compared to Judy singing it.There was one spot in the song wher…

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An Off-Beat Essay: What Do You Hope to Find over the Rainbow?

Jordan Molen , Contributor | January 27, 2016

Jordan Molen

“Somewhere over the rainbow” a classic ballad written by Harold Arlen, for an even more timeless movie “The Wizard of Oz.” For Dorothy over the rainbow was an emerald city filled with color changing ponies, talking apples trees, and her beloved pooch to tag along. However, that isn’t what Dorothy really wanted, after battling wicked witches, flying monkeys, and her own fears she realized how valuable Kansas was. Could it be that were searching for what’s over our own rainbows when they might be right in front of us?

I have my own idea of what’s over my rainbow, I envision myself maybe up in the mountains of Colorado, or promenading the beaches of Puerto Rico and traveling to places I’ve only imagined in my wildest dreams. Drinking a cup of Seattle’s best while traveling around Washington, taste the best barbecue in Tennessee, or even bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. Over my rainbow is a life of leisure and adventure. I was brought up to be practical, I’ve been told to work diligently in school only to choose a job that’s realistic. Be a part of all the best High School Programs so hopefully a college might notice me. I’ve been told to get a job as soon as I turn sixteen, save money, and learn how to manage it. I’ve been told to not take to many risks, don’t back talk your elders, and don’t be a hero. What ever happened to “you can be whatever you want to be?” If this were true I’d be the next Molly Shannon of Saturday Night Live, living in my non-existent penthouse with my Leonardo DiCapresce boyfriend. Obviously, these are unrealistic goals. However, my goals to travel, establish a solid career, and begin a family of my own are not unrealistic goals. No matter how much I’d love to live anywhere other than small town, rural Indiana, over my rainbow is an Indiana University where I can be immersed in education that’s going to take me to the places I’m meant to be.

This is my point specifically, we as teens on the verge of adulthood and making life decisions that will affect us from this moment on is this. We spend so much of our time daydreaming about what we could be, and the things we could do but what it takes to get there are things that we can do here at home. I’m a believer that dreams come true, but there’s always a starting point, and I can’t think of any other place than my Indiana home. Here I can get the education that’s going to take me on a series of adventures—not only the adventures I imagine myself on, but also all of the milestones in my life I still have yet to discover some being graduating, getting married, and having children. These are the ultimate goals we all are working towards in the end, and there’s no better place to start the journey to those things than right here in Indiana. After all… “There’s no place like home.”

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