Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Last night, on the season finale of Glee (yes, I'm a fan, what can I say?) coach Will Schuster sang Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It's a version that has exploded over the last decade and I suppose it's inclusion on Glee means that it has truly become ubiquitous.

Every time I hear the IZ version, I'm stunned that even a song so familiar can become fresh and new when you come at it with genuine creativity and honest emotion.

This video shows IZ playing the song and includes footage of the thousands of fans who came out to his memorial service in 1997.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Harold Arlen: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Back in March, I was asked to sing with the Bowdoin College Concert Band for an evening of standards and Gershwin Tunes. I just got some of the mp3 files from the concert and thought it might be fun to post one. (You can listen by clicking on the player at the bottom of this post.)

Harold Arlen is one of my songwriting heroes, with over 500 songs under his belt (including one of my all-time favorites, Stormy Weather). When he teamed up with lyricist Johnny Mercer in the 1940's, the results were pure magic: One for My Baby, Come Rain or Come Shine, That Old Black Magic, Ac-cen-tu-ate the Positive. In that old music-on-a-desert-island game, Harold Arlen would be my man.

But of course, his most famous song of all is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," written for The Wizard of Oz and sung unforgettably by Judy Garland. Get this, though (from IMDB):

"Over the Rainbow" was nearly cut from the film; MGM felt that it made the Kansas sequence too long, as well as being too far over the heads of the children for whom it was intended. The studio also thought that it was degrading for Judy Garland to sing in a barnyard.

Oh, studio suits. Really? Truly?

Anyway, here's me singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow with the Bowdoin College Concert Band. Hope you enjoy...