Midnight Media Cafe - Over the Rainbow
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Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
From the film The Wizard of Oz
Like everyone else in my generation, I've been familiar with the film The Wizard of Oz as long as I can remember, because way back before cable and video and DVD, it was one of the yearly traditions in households across America to sit down together as a family and watch it on the ONE night of the year it was broadcast. With that yearly showing, it attained a cultural and (more importantly) emotional status that I believe is now impossible for any filmed entertainment to achieve, at least in America. Now that we can see any show or movie whenever we want once it's released, simply by renting a disc or finding a download, the impact of having to wait for months and months to see it again can no longer be felt. It made the film a jewel that could only be seen fitfully, at certain moments, and yet it was also something dependable, a tradition like any other, something to count on - no matter what happened during the year, you knew you'd get the chance to return to Oz. A great deal of that magic, that sense of connection, had to do with the ballad that Dorothy sings in the yard to her dog Toto - Over the Rainbow, written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, and sung with utter perfection by the young Judy Garland.
I don't think I've ever met a single person who was not familiar with this song. Even people who've never seen the film can usually sing at least some of it. The song encapsulates something primal in us - the dream of the Beautiful Land, the place that is always better, where things are sweeter, more peaceful, and where we will always be happier than where we are now. It is a longing that is unquenchable, and that is why it's eternal, I think. And of course the song found its perfect expression in Judy Garland's smooth, gentle voice, sweet and yet sad at the same time. Her notes slide gently up and down the scale of the song, caressing each one in a manner that is hesitant and dreamy, and then owns it fully before moving to the next note. It's as if her voice is molding each note like a sculptor, creating something so beautiful, so full of longing, that you feel no one has ever sung that note before, or the next one, or the next one. As if this pretty young girl were in fact one of the Ainur, and her voice is bringing into existence part of the essential creation of life, so pure and perfect is her rendition of the fundamental emotion - yearning, the thing that makes the universe possible.
Now, that's mighty high-flown talk for such a simple song, but you see, this song is not nearly as simple as you might think from hearing it, especially in the context of a children's tale. To the end of exploring just WHY this song works so magnificently in what it does, here is a clip from What Makes It Great, a radio series on music, its structure and its influence. In it, the two interlocutors take the song piece by piece, note by note, and explain how it works both on the thoughts and more importantly on the emotions of the listener.
Analysis of Over the Rainbow, from "What Makes It Great"
Like everyone else, my heartstrings have been tugged by this song since childhood, and yet it never occurred to me to wonder how it was doing was it was doing. It's a revelation to hear why it's so effective from a musicological point of view - what the first two notes represent, how the specific choice of backing chords deepen the song's intent, and how why that last note is so very, very important. Such an analysis can really get your mind spinning, bringing up your own new thoughts on how the melody affects you.
Click to viewOver the Rainbow - Judy Garland
From the film The Wizard of Oz
Like everyone else in my generation, I've been familiar with the film The Wizard of Oz as long as I can remember, because way back before cable and video and DVD, it was one of the yearly traditions in households across America to sit down together as a family and watch it on the ONE night of the year it was broadcast. With that yearly showing, it attained a cultural and (more importantly) emotional status that I believe is now impossible for any filmed entertainment to achieve, at least in America. Now that we can see any show or movie whenever we want once it's released, simply by renting a disc or finding a download, the impact of having to wait for months and months to see it again can no longer be felt. It made the film a jewel that could only be seen fitfully, at certain moments, and yet it was also something dependable, a tradition like any other, something to count on - no matter what happened during the year, you knew you'd get the chance to return to Oz. A great deal of that magic, that sense of connection, had to do with the ballad that Dorothy sings in the yard to her dog Toto - Over the Rainbow, written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, and sung with utter perfection by the young Judy Garland.
I don't think I've ever met a single person who was not familiar with this song. Even people who've never seen the film can usually sing at least some of it. The song encapsulates something primal in us - the dream of the Beautiful Land, the place that is always better, where things are sweeter, more peaceful, and where we will always be happier than where we are now. It is a longing that is unquenchable, and that is why it's eternal, I think. And of course the song found its perfect expression in Judy Garland's smooth, gentle voice, sweet and yet sad at the same time. Her notes slide gently up and down the scale of the song, caressing each one in a manner that is hesitant and dreamy, and then owns it fully before moving to the next note. It's as if her voice is molding each note like a sculptor, creating something so beautiful, so full of longing, that you feel no one has ever sung that note before, or the next one, or the next one. As if this pretty young girl were in fact one of the Ainur, and her voice is bringing into existence part of the essential creation of life, so pure and perfect is her rendition of the fundamental emotion - yearning, the thing that makes the universe possible.
Now, that's mighty high-flown talk for such a simple song, but you see, this song is not nearly as simple as you might think from hearing it, especially in the context of a children's tale. To the end of exploring just WHY this song works so magnificently in what it does, here is a clip from What Makes It Great, a radio series on music, its structure and its influence. In it, the two interlocutors take the song piece by piece, note by note, and explain how it works both on the thoughts and more importantly on the emotions of the listener.
Analysis of Over the Rainbow, from "What Makes It Great"
Like everyone else, my heartstrings have been tugged by this song since childhood, and yet it never occurred to me to wonder how it was doing was it was doing. It's a revelation to hear why it's so effective from a musicological point of view - what the first two notes represent, how the specific choice of backing chords deepen the song's intent, and how why that last note is so very, very important. Such an analysis can really get your mind spinning, bringing up your own new thoughts on how the melody affects you.