Sunday, February 16, 2020

Robert Beveridge writes

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

The Haitians believe
that every rainbow
is the manifestation
in our earth
of heaven
so here, drunk, Judy
Garland on the radio
again, I wonder what
is beyond the river
of heaven manifest
in the night sky
 
 https://youtu.be/4wkSBZb2aoI
 Judy Garland singing "Over the Rainbow" during a broadcast of the "Command Performance" radio program.

1 comment:

  1. Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg composed "Over the Rainbow" for the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz." It was sung by 17-year-old Judy Garland and won the Academy award for Best Original Song. Her performance was directed by King Vidor but was deleted from the film after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer chief executive Louis B. Mayer (who referred to Garland as his "little hunchback") and producer Mervyn LeRoy attended a preview and thought it slowed the picture down and that Garland was too young to sing it. However, associate producer Arthur Freed and Roger Edens, (Garland's vocal coach and mentor) managed to have it restored. Freed threatened to quit if the song were removed, and Mayer capitulated, saying "Let the boys have the damn song. Put it back in the picture. It can’t hurt." The Recording Industry Association of America, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Film Institute have all listed it their top song.

    Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
    There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
    Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
    And the dreams that you dare to dream
    Really do come true.

    Someday I'll wish upon a star
    And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
    Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
    High above the chimney tops,
    That's where you'll find me.

    Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
    Birds fly over the rainbow
    Why, then. oh why can't I?
    If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow,
    Why, oh why can't I?

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