Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I think our neighbor was having an instrumental tripping today. As I was cleaning my kids feeding bottle, I was also listening to their instrumental music. I can hear clearly the music coming from their window which is just about a foot from our sink. I haven’t mentioned that I am leaving in a 2 bedroom apartment and beside our apartment is another apartment building. I think just 1 foot apart. It’s really congested here.

I heard one of my favorite songs, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. The version that I heard was an instrumental. I think it’s a Kenny G version. This song was written by Edgar Yipsel Harburg and was originally sung by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”.  Here is the lyric of the song.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Somewhere Over the Rainbow is quite an old song and there are definitely a lot of versions for this song.  Here are some of the popular versions of this song including Kenny G’s version.

Judy Garland 

Judy Garland was only 16 when she sung the original version of this song in the movie “The Wizard of Oz”.  She played as Dorothy Gale, the lead role.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Israel was a Hawiian musician. He made a ukulele medley version of this song which was included in his album Facing Future which was released in 1993.

Kenny G

Kenneth Bruce Gorelick better known as Kenny G is a Jazz saxophonist. He made an instrumental version of this song which was included in his first cover album entitled “Classics in the keys of G”. It was released in 1999.

Jason Castro

Jason was a contestant of American Idol Season 7. He made his own rendition of this song where he played a ukulele during the Top 8 performance week. Jason was the first contestant who played ukulele in American Idol. 

Glee

Somewhere Over the Rainbow was sung in the Season 1 Finale episode of the TV series Glee. It was sung by Will Schuster (Matthew Morrison) and Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling). It is like Isreal’s version where Will played a ukulele.

I know this song will bring back our old memories and I know this is one of the most loved songs of all ages. I hope you enjoyed this post because I really enjoyed putting this up together.