On this date in 1939 Judy Garland recorded the studio version of Over the Rainbow. 10 facts about the song:
The tune was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Yip Harburg. This duo often worked together and other songs of theirs include It's Only a Paper Moon, Brother Can You Spare a Dime and Lydia the Tattooed Lady.
When Harburg first heard the tune, he hated it, until Arlen was persuaded by Ira Gershwin to speed up the tempo a little.
It nearly didn’t get included in The Wizard of Oz at all. Some MGM executives thought it too slow a song to be included so early in the film, especially since they thought the film was already too long. However, associate producer Arthur Freed and Roger Edens, Judy Garland’s vocal coach, talked them into keeping it.
They were right: it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and was later chosen by RIAA as the #1 Song of the 20th Century and by AFI as the Greatest Movie Song Ever.
In the film version, Judy Garland is accompanied by a renowned Stradivarius Violin.
The song has been covered by many and at least eleven versions have been chart hits over the years throughout the world. Judy Garland’s original version, however, is not one of them.
There is an additional verse which isn’t in the film but is sometimes used in stage productions. It goes: “When all the world is a hopeless jumble; And the raindrops tumble all around; Heaven opens a magic lane. When all the clouds darken up the skyway; There's a Rainbow highway to be found; Leading from your windowpane; To a place behind the sun; Just a step beyond the rain.”
The song appears about five minutes into the film. Dorothy has just had an unpleasant account with the spinster Miss Gulch who threatened her dog, Toto. Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands don’t believe her. Aunt Em tells her to "find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble". Dorothy wanders off, saying to Toto, "Someplace 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." Cue the song. Harburg said his inspiration was "a ballad for a little girl who... was in trouble and... wanted to get away from... Kansas. A dry, arid, colourless place. She had never seen anything colourful in her life except the rainbow".
It has been played in space. It was sent as an audio wakeup call to astronauts aboard the STS-88 Space Shuttle mission on Flight Day 4, dedicated to astronaut Robert D. Cabana by his daughter Sara.
Harry Connick Jr. sang this at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Dorothy Hamill skated as he sang.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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