It is perhaps the most renowned and iconic song of the 20th century and is often synonymous with the Jewish experience of WWII. Written in 1939 with a strong set of lyrics about escaping beyond the rainbow to a land “where the clouds are far behind,” the song’s appeal continues to this day and has captured the hearts of many people along the way.
One only has to look to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s fabled rendition on the tenor ukulele, which currently has over one billion views on YouTube. The Austrian-born American composer Walter Aptowitzer was so enraptured by the song’s beauty that he took on Harold Arlen’s surname, becoming Walter “Arlen” upon arrival into the U.S.
Yet, the reality of the story behind the music is more complicated. Although, in a broader sense, the world was deeply troubled by the events unfolding under Nazi rule in Europe, Harold Arlen may have been more pre-occupied with lightening up the rhythm in such a way that it could be best sung by a young, teenage girl, while ensuring that Harburg’s lyrics fall in just the right place. That young girl happened to be Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz, who was only 16 at the time and immediately shot to stardom as a result of the movie’s success.
The composer of the music, Harold Arlen, was the son of Lithuanian-Jewish refugees. His father Samuel was the well-respected cantor of Pine Street Synagogue in Buffalo, NY, who could instantly improvise melodies to any text. In doing so, he gave his son perhaps the most prized musical education of his most formative years.
We continuously yearn to know what was on a composer’s mind when they wrote their most inspired works and the reality is rarely consistent with our expectations. For example, G.F. Handel had noticed a teardrop fall onto his score as he had penned the famous Messiah, while Mozart often wrote his operas at the very last minute, sometimes just hours before a performance.
Great music like great interpretations can happen at a moment’s notice and are rarely accompanied by an underlying explanation. Let’s simply enjoy “Over The Rainbow” for what it is – one truly great tune!
this is awesome and what a talent for one person to have!!!!God given talent! WE thank him for his talent and allowing all of us who enjoy this song with such belief that there is an over the rainbow!!!!
Thank you Harold
I heard that Over the Rainbow was written by or about getting out of the nazi camps. Any truth to that.
The song was written in 1939, but the horror of the death camps was not discovered until 1945, so the song was not written about the plight of the Jews in the camps.
Sorry it makes me cry.
Maybe the vintage feel of it.
I love it!.
I always felt the song belonged to those who were consistently thrown out from country to country or slaughtered because of their race or faith, especialy those of the Jewish faith who had no where to go and yearned for a place over the rainbow where bluebirds sang and blue skies followed.
the holocaust begins in 1933 and includes kristallnacht snopes is wrong and I AM CORRECT. Rabbi DR. Bernhard ROSENBERG
Thank you so much for this info. Today (Mother’s Day) I’ll be playing this piece and others from that era for very ill older people at a skilled nursing facility. Plus this fits with my recent ancestry research, which in my case involves Ukrainian Jews fleeing pogroms prior to World War I and fleeing the Bolsheviks soon after that. Best wishes to you!
Who best sings over the rainbow
Top 3 performers Judy Garland, Iz Kamakawiwoʻole, and Eva Cassidy. Depends on what the song means to you. I prefer Eva’s performance but she speaks to the saddnes when the song was originally written
This is the best cover: https://youtu.be/2rd8VktT8xY?si=gnRpRt0MC4irFh9b
Who best sings ‘over the rainbow’ you ask? Eighty-five years later the answer is ‘you’ once you recognize what Yip Harburg’s lyric to Arlen’s almost cantorial melody means on a personal and historical basis.
This song has captured my heart as a young girl, a teen, a college student, a young adult who always loved music, theater, movies, and more music. Over the Rainbow and the The Wizard of Oz has connected me to my sister, Neice, daughter& granddaughters, and other lovers of the heart-grasping song and story got most of my life. It always takes me to & over the rainbow, pulling my poor heart to tears. I love the Ukele version too.
I want it played at my funeral or memorial- or whatever!