Why Over the Rainbow remains iconic 85 years after The Wizard of Oz
The song, which has captured hearts since 1939, turned 85 this year
The Wizard of Oz's signature song Over the Rainbow may be 85 years old, but the ballad originally performed by Judy Garland has lost none of its potency according to musicologist Walter Frisch.
"In its own way, it's as great a work as, I don't want to say it's as great as Beethoven's Eroica, it's different. But the level of craftsmanship and expertise that goes into a song like this comes back to me each time," Frisch, author of Arlen and Harburg's Over the Rainbow, a book that tells the history of the song, told The Sunday Magazine.
The song, which was composed for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, was created by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E. Y. Harburg. This year marks the 85th anniversary of both the film and song.
According to Frisch, who is also a music professor at Columbia University in New York, the song's journey is just as magical as the film it inhabits, from the superstars that have performed it decades after its initial release, to its emotional impact in challenging times.
Wizard of Oz vs. Snow White
In the 1930s, film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (better known as MGM) considered itself a rival of Disney, and wanted to make a hit that could compete with Disney's classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was released in 1937.
The studio bought the rights to adapt the 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a live-action film, with music that would compete with Snow White's singing dwarves.
MGM's associate producer Arthur Freed hired Arlen and Harburg for the project.
"[He] was looking for a composer and lyricist pair who he thought could capture the sort of both childlike and sophisticated spirit that he wanted in the story," said Frisch.
Harburg loved wordplay and poetry, says Frisch, while Arlen was into jazz. The two had established musical careers before they met in the mid-1930s to work on a show called Life Begins at 8:40 for Broadway, and went on to write a number of other movie scores together.
The two were charged with coming up with a song for the beginning of the film while Dorothy was still in Kansas.
"It was a popular song from the moment that it appeared in the film, and particularly as sung by Judy Garland," said Frisch.
"You just can't separate the song from Judy Garland, although other people have played it since. [It's] the sense of longing in her voice, the special pathos and catch in her throat that communicates it."
Tony Conniff, a songwriter in New York City who also teaches song writing courses, says the song resonates in part because of its simplicity.
He cites the iconic phrase, "somewhere over the rainbow," as an example of how simple lyric writing can be effective.
"A lyric like that feels very deep and poetic and beautiful because of its how it works hand-in-glove with the melody. And yet it's very, very simple. Almost like a child could write it," said Conniff.
"These were just great, great songwriters, you know, really as good as any songwriters ever. And they just sat down and had a very good day."
Different versions
Today, Over the Rainbow is recognized as an unquestionable hit. It was named by the American Film Institute as the best movie song ever, and the Library of Congress entered Garland's single into the Library of Congress as a piece of music considered historically significant in 2017.
But it underwent significant changes before its debut in The Wizard of Oz.
At first the scriptwriters had wanted a song about Dorothy's love of Kansas. But Arlen and Harburg argued the character had a sense of longing to get away from it instead.
"She wants to get away somewhere where she could be happy and fulfilled. And so that's where this sort of image of over the rainbow … gets developed," said Frisch.
Later — Frisch isn't sure how — the song escaped from MGM Studios before the release of The Wizard of Oz. It got into the hands of musician Bea Wain, who recorded a version of the song just months before the release of the film.
"MGM was furious that somehow the song escaped," said Frisch. But Wain's recording had a very different vibe than Garland's.
"When you listen to this recording, it doesn't sound at all [like the original]. If it had been the only original recording, it probably wouldn't have become the famous ballad that it became."
A song that continues to resonate
Despite Wain's recording, Garland's performance became the definitive version of the song. But she's not the only one who helped make it a smash hit.
Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwoʻole released a ukelele verison in 1990. Ariana Grande moved herself and many others to tears when she performed the song at a charity concert in 2017.
But why does it persist, even 85 years after its original release?
Conniff says the song and the hugely popular film it debuted in are intrinsically connected to each other.
"Many, many people see The Wizard of Oz and they remember that song," said Conniff.
Frisch says it's in part because the song has carried different meanings for many communities throughout the decades.
He says that early on, the LGBT community used Garland's version as an anthem. And in Hawaii, Kamakawiwoʻole's performance represented Hawaiian independence and self-determination.
People also use it as a song of hope, like when children from Newtown, Conn., sang the song following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
Frisch says it's the meaning behind those lyrics, that connection to hope, that keeps it relevant so many years later.
"I never cease to be amazed at the craftsmanship of it and its ability to communicate," said Frisch.
"The detail that Arlen puts into the song and that Harbor puts into his lyrics. And yet it never obscures the beauty of the melody or the flow of the harmony or the perfection of the lyrics."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Interview with Walter Frisch produced by Levi Garber
