Judy Garland's Ever Elusive Rainbow
My #ThemeSong for today is Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The song has been sung by icons over the years, including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, Ariana Grande, and a heap of other well-known and not-so-well-known folks; but my favorite version, by far, is the original, black-and-white Wizard of Oz performance by Judy Garland:
Judy Garland first recorded “Over the Rainbow” for The Wizard of Oz with MGM on October 7, 1938. Since then, the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts ranked the song number one on the “Songs of the Century” list, and the American Film Institute named it the greatest movie song of all time on the list of “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs.” Somewhere Over the Rainbow was adopted in World War II by American troops in Europe as a symbol of the United States.
Judy Garland was a powerhouse of talent and personality, but the entertainment industry’s insatiable appetite for patriarchal America‘s perfect female stereotype started chipping away at her self image when she was a teenager and plagued her with physical and mental health problems until she died of a drug overdose when she was 47. Garland’s history brings shadow and, therefore, depth to what might otherwise be the light-hearted if poetic musings of an optimistic though sad young girl.
My 10YO is learning SomewhereOver the Rainbow on cello for Duke String School’s Spring Orchestra session, which is thankfully being allowed to happen outdoors this year. I love hearing live music outside. A single instrument sounds clearer, louder, rounder and just plain better in an otherwise quiet outdoor space, and the sound waves from a group of instruments blend and become smoother with the distance they travel to my ears. If you are in/near Durham in March and early April, you should walk around Duke campus (masks required) in the vicinity of Baldwin Auditorium and the Mary Duke Biddle building (near 9th street) one Saturday morning (at/after 10 AM) or afternoon. Bring the kids so they can witness people their age creating good music together, but please do not congregate around the players, as adherence to strict social distancing is required in order for the program to continue.
If you missed my last blog post, you can view it here: http://www.melissarooneywriting.com/blog/2021/03/remembering-mr-hammond/.
As always, thanks for checking in!
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