We seem to have entered a kind of twilight world where it’s not easy to take either victory or defeat seriously unless there’s a pretense of cynicism, or a claim to being “on the inside" of some great game. There’s even a kind of ideological petulance and demoralization about the liberal reform project that realigns conservatives with the multicultural left, binding intolerance and impotence into an ironically self-directed schadenfreude... while the financial nebulous remains a terrifying cipher.
But we’ve been here before.
In 1939, as we approached the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of a war against a seemingly irresistible totalitarian vision, songwriters Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg wrote a ballad that virtually personified the reanimation of Western liberal democratic culture after an interminable demoralization. The song appeared twice in the MGM musical The Wizard of Oz: first as Judy Garland mused in the barnyard of Dorothy’s dustbowl farm, and again after she’d been magically transported to a land ruled by a benevolently omniscient fake. The dustbowl version is far more moving than the Oz version (pardon the subtitles, but it had the best sound quality).
If you’d like to hear the second version, as a point of reference, it’s here. The second performance has a jaunty pretense of “good times” that’s irritatingly unconvincing, both from a theatrical and an historical perspective. Israel Kamakawiwo Ole' performed a version of the song recently that also seems a little 9/10 for my taste. It’s nice, though.
My favorite version of the ballad (so far) is Eva Cassidy’s. She performed it in a small dive in Washington, DC during the 1990s, probably not more than a few blocks from where I lived at the time. Her matchless voice is cast in breathtaking relief as she performs with scraggly hair against the backdrop of a brick wall. As much as I like Garland’s signature version I just find Cassidy’s guileless performance more comforting and inspiring.
What’s your favorite version of Over the Rainbow?
I've always been quite partial to Harry Nilsson's rendition. Here's one youtube link.
Sure, the arrangement is schmaltzy. So sue me.
[Drive by, though pleasant. In Russian. Deleted. --NM]
My favorite version is the one I sing, walking on our beautiful, productive farm -- out here in the Kansas River valley -- just after a band of much-needed rain has moved through, and a rainbow appears.
And the bluebirds, many dozens of them, really do fly ...
Israel Kamakawiwo Ole' performed a version of the song recently...
Not all that recently, he died in '97.
Keith Jarrett's encore on the La Scala album.
Ray Charles' version. Nothing comes close.
With that said, anything by Eva Cassidy is worth peoples' time. Sadly, she died very young (cancer, not the usual singer drug burnout).
The Over the rainbow/Wonderful world medley. For me, nothing else comes close.
On a cultural note I'm interested in what the musical trends and topics are going to be (lyric subject matter) in the near future. My observation is that music generally either tends to reflect current events/attitudes or just the opposite (providing a safe hiding place from current events).
William sends.
Here's a link to the Ray Charles version (or one of them). And here's version by Eric Clapton that's pretty good.
And for Timothy Kieth Jarret's version, plus an iconoclastic instrumental version by Jeff Beck. I'd listen to Beck first Jarret can round off the edges.
Thanks for the links Demosophist.
Interesting timing on the piece, I just finished watching “Tin Man” the latest reimagining of the story of the Wizard of Oz which was on the Sci Fi channel about a year or so ago.
Israel Kamakawiwo Ole' 's version tears up the ol' softie concealed in me, under the shell of musical skronky iconoclasm.
. . . and the musical future, William? I predict sappy and nostalgic escapism at one extreme, along with angry skronk from the other extreme (punk, anyone? free jazz?)