Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland

CAVEAT: Because this song is so pervasive in culture and so well known, we had a discussion as to what we would do.  We thought about maybe saying that we can't look at the song from an objective perspective so perhaps with would give it no score?  We then decided that that was a cop out, and we would review the song like the others and give our honest views.

Anyhow, this is one of those songs that everybody ever knows, and has been covered a bajillion times.  It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, although it almost didn't make the cut (studio executives thought it slowed down the movie).  The song was written by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg (of Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? fame) and won them a best song Oscar.  It was also voted #1 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Songs list.

The song was almost an allegory for its vehicle's life.  Born Frances Ethel Gumm, Judy Garland started in the business pretty much when she was a fetus and that's when trouble started.  The studios were never completely crazy about her looks and were always manipulating her onscreen appearance by capping her teeth and putting rubber discs on her nose to reshape it. She could never really shake her good girl image so she lost out on some of the more desirable roles. She married 5 times, had a myriad of financial issues as well as a drug and alcohol problem, which led to her death at the age of 47 in 1969.  The song because an anthem for Garland who performed it at almost all her concerts and told the songwriters, "I've sung it thousands of times and it's still the song that's closest to my heart."

There are 2 popular cover versions of this song as well - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version (heard here) which he paired up with What a Wonderful World, and Eva Cassidy's soulful take (listen here).  Oddly enough, like Garland, Kamakawiwo'ole and Cassidy both also died prematurely.

Here we go:

Holly:

Over The Rainbow (Judy Garland): Well, this is difficult to evaluate. Everyone and their dog has heard both the original of this song, as well as ukulele versions, Muzak versions, and small children on televised talent show versions. Is it a good song though? Is Judy Garland any good? This arrangement? I found it really difficult to listen to objectively, but I tried. So here’s what I’ve come up with while trying to listen without any previous bias: the orchestral arrangement is the height of sappy, the low clarinets, the overabundant harps, and the bird sounds. So cheesy. Judy Garland has a really nice voice. It’s pretty dated sounding, but pleasant enough. So, it definitely falls on the cheesy side of the scale. I’ll give it a 2.5/5

Kelly:

I found this one tricky to objectively evaluate because it is just so iconic and came to this conclusion - it's a good song, I'm just not crazy about the Judy Garland version.  I know this song means a great deal to a lot of people, I've just personally never loved it - maybe it's too overtly sentimental?  The song has a great melody but like a lot of the songs we've evaluated so far, it's pretty dated.  The orchestration is a bit weak, but Judy sounds pretty good, although you can tell the decade just by listening to her style of singing.  I prefer the absolutely face melting version done by a questionably-coiffed Patti LaBelle, which can be heard here.  But honestly, if I live another 50 years and never hear this song again, I would be ok with that.  3/5

Over the Rainbow