The Great American Songbook: Over the Rainbow

Written by: Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg

First performed by: Judy Garland, 1939

It's too well-known to even write about. Countless volumes have been written about The Wizard of Oz, about Judy Garland. Multiple "Songs of the Century" lists top off with "Over the Rainbow" (the "Somewhere" is optional).

Aunt Em tells Dorothy to find "a place where you won't get yourself into any trouble." The neglected girl leans into a bale of hay, yearning for a place beyond the rain. But though "Over the Rainbow" seems like a lark, completely organic to the film and to Judy Garland's voice, the reality was that the song created its own trouble. Studio executives at MGM wanted to scrap the ballad altogether. In 1939, pictures were rarely longer than one hour, forty-five minutes (the major exception being Gone with the Wind). The song, over which the songwriters agonized, was cut from several previews. Who wanted to listen to a teenager singing in a barnyard? their wisdom went. Arlen and Harburg fought for its inclusion, and eventually Louis B. Mayer decided the film would survive with "Over the Rainbow."

Could Oz have survived without it? Apocryphal stories credit the image of a rainbow, introduced by lyricist Harburg, with the sepia-toned look of the Kansas sequences. I saw an outdoor screening of the film last week where audience members applauded at the first splash of color. Without this traditional "I want" song, and without the two-tone opening, would the land of Oz still mesmerize?

When I was a five-year-old, Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West terrified me. Now that I'm twenty-three, the adult ambitions of Oz become more clear. Take, for instance, the satire of the Wizard bestowing brains, hearts, and courage. Every other song in the score appeals to the jolly, singsong, tra la la jingles we expect of children's musicals (though with undoubtedly great wit). "Over the Rainbow," though skyward-bound, is as down-to-earth. It's a sincere character song, outwardly hopeful but inwardly reaching, a little desperate. "Why oh why can't I?" are the final words.

Listen to how the song starts right in on the chorus. Arlen and Harburg composed a verse but never intended it for The Wizard of Oz. Hear how the orchestra seems to open up on the second "Somewhere," and how Garland's voice sounds older than her sixteen years. Some dreams are too good to be true, which she learns through the Wicked Witch and the sham Wizard. Going home makes perfect sense story-wise, but isn't it a bit deflating to see the sepia-tone again? To know that the storm destroyed their crops, and Mrs. Gulch still has it out for Toto? Like the film, "Over the Rainbow" is really about the need for escapism--not just escapism itself.