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Many feel the song epitomizes the hopes and dreams of youthful aspiration for an ideal world of love and joy. The song was especially written to showcase Judy Garland 's talents in the star vehicle '' The Wizard Of Oz '', and she was forever after called upon to sing it in all her public appearances, for it became her lifelong theme song. Its plaintive melody and simple lyrics depict a pre-adolescent girl's desire for an escape from the "hopeless jumble" of this world, from the sadness of raindrops to the bright new world "over the rainbow". It expresses the childlike faith that "Heaven" will magically "open a door" to a place where "troubles melt like lemon-drops". The song tops the " Songs Of The Century " list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. It also topped the American Film Institute 's "100 Years, 100 Songs" list. The American troops in Europe in WWII adopted the song, as well as Irving Berlin 's " White Christmas " (in which Bing Crosby omitted the opening verse about a New-Yorker in California and made it a universal song of longing for home), as a symbol of the US, that faraway land that, after long years of war, seemed like a dream, beyond the rainbow. Modern listeners may be unaware that the song had an introductory stanza, as this was not sung in the film by Garland. MODERN-DAY RECORDINGS OF THE SONG Hundreds of singers have recorded their own versions of "Over the Rainbow", most notably by:
Sam Harris performed a winning rendition on the first season of the original Star Search . Barbra Streisand , Eric Clapton , Kylie Minogue , and Garland's daughters Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft have sung the song in concert. One of the most interesting versions was recorded by the late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole whose medley of "Rainbow" and Louis Armstrong 's " What A Wonderful World " was featured on the soundtrack of the films '' Meet Joe Black '', '' Finding Forrester '', and '' 50 First Dates ''. James Stewart memorably warbled a rendition while carrying a "drunk" Katharine Hepburn in '' The Philadelphia Story ''. Even horror legend Vincent Price did a version in the film '' Dr. Phibes Rises Again ''. Elisabeth Andreassen also recorded the song. British television comedian Kenny Everett sometimes did comedy segments that included the unique sound of a British police car Siren and Everett singing the lyrics, "Behind me!" and "That's where you'll find me!" The cover band Me First And The Gimme Gimmes covered the song for their 1999 album '' Are A Drag '', and in the animated series '' The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy '', Grey Delisle sang it as her character, Mandy. Guitarist Joe Satriani occasionally covers the song at his concerts. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore would perform a few bars of the verse at the beginning of his concerts, when he Rocked the world with his band of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow , in those years from 1975 to 1983. In Stephen Schwartz 's musical '' Wicked '', an adaptation of Gregory Maguire 's novel, the main character, Elphaba , has a piece of music that plays at important moments in her life, the words of which are "Un-li-mi-ted, my fu-ture -" and this piece is played to the same notes (though not the same lengths) as "Some-where o-ver the rain-bow'. As the Wicked Witch Of The West is Elphaba's other name, and because Dorothy and she are Literary Foils , this provides an Ironic subtext to this song. (It also may be noted that by restricting the piece to seven notes, Schwartz prevented MGM from having the right to press legal charges against him.) "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" is featured as a Dance Dance Revolution song, available on the 7th mix in the CD line. The Smashing Pumpkins would often include "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" in the live/jam version of "Silverfuck". This is present on the live concert album Earphoria but on the DVD Vieuphoria it is edited out, because they did not have the rights to the song. "Rainbow" can also be found on the late Ray Charles final album, Genius Loves Company , as a duet with Johnny Mathis . EXTERNAL LINKS
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