Biography of the Artists

“Over the Rainbow” was composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by E. Y. “Yip” Harburg, and introduced by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939). The song came out at a time when many people were still suffering from the aftermath of the Great Depression. Although the economy had started to recover, many families were still struggling with unemployment and poverty. Hollywood musicals were a temporary escape from these problems. Their stories of romance and dreams of a better life offered hope to audiences.

Harold Arlen was born into a working-class Jewish family, and his background as a performer shaped the way he wrote songs. He was the son of a cantor in Buffalo, New York, and he originally wanted to become a singer rather than a songwriter. After moving to New York City in the 1920s, he did numerous gigs as a singer but never achieved the success he wanted. To support himself, he worked as a pianist, including as a rehearsal pianist for Fletcher Henderson on Broadway. During one rehearsal break, composer Will Marion Cook heard Arlen improvising at the piano and encouraged him to turn that material into a song. The result was “Get Happy,” which became Arlen’s first major hit in 1930 and convinced him to pursue songwriting as a career. “Get Happy” became a radio hit and was covered by jazz bands across America. He went on to compose many pieces that became standards for jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Ethel Waters. Nina Ferro said that Arlen sometimes wrote “quite complicated patches” on purpose to create a particular mood. In “Over the Rainbow,” that complexity is hidden beneath a melody that sounds simple but memorable.

The lyricist Yip Harburg was also born into a working-class Russian Jewish family in New York. Like other lyricists who grew up in New York around 1900, he was immersed in many forms of art, from poetry to theatre. He turned to songwriting after the stock market crash forced him out of business. He later described the experience in an interview with Studs Terkel: “When I lost my possessions, I found my creativity” (Meyerson & Harburg, 1993, p. 25). Writing lyrics became his way of facing reality and pursuing his desire to write. His writing was tied to his political beliefs, as Harburg advocated for social justice. His songs often criticised inequality while using humour. He wrote “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” in 1932 for Broadway. The song tells the story of an ordinary worker who pursued the American dream but was left with nothing after the economy collapsed. It became an anthem of the Great Depression, showing Harburg’s ability to write lyrics that resonated with the public.

The singer of “Over the Rainbow” was Judy Garland, an American singer and actress who began performing as a young child alongside her sisters before signing with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) at thirteen. She was sixteen when filming began on The Wizard of Oz, whose release in 1939 brought her international fame as Dorothy. Her powerful voice and emotional sincerity made “Over the Rainbow” a convincing expression of Dorothy’s desire to escape her troubles. Her performance also allowed listeners to connect the song’s hope and longing to their own lives. The song became Garland’s signature piece and remained closely associated with her throughout her career.

Garland’s role as Dorothy worked so well because it matched the image MGM had already created for her. The studio often cast her as an ordinary American girl in films about small-town life. Dorothy’s background on a Kansas farm, her gingham dress, and her longing for home therefore felt familiar to audiences. Garland did not seem like a distant Hollywood star, but like someone people might meet in everyday life. This made her desire to escape her reality relatable and helped make “Over the Rainbow” feel believable when she sang it.

Musicological Analysis

Arlen and Harburg had written most of the soundtrack for The Wizard of Oz, but they still needed a ballad of “yearning” for Dorothy to sing early in the film. Arlen struggled to come up with a tune until the melody came to him during a drive to the movies on Sunset Boulevard. His original presentation was symphonic and elaborate, making it difficult to imagine Dorothy singing it. They brought it to their friend Ira Gershwin, who suggested that Arlen play the melody simply, with one finger, so they could hear the tune without the elaborate accompaniment.

The defining musical gesture of “Over the Rainbow” is the octave leap on the opening word, “somewhere.” The distance between those two notes makes the melody seem to reach toward the place described in the lyric. The leap expresses the song’s central emotion: the longing for something beyond Dorothy’s present circumstances. The following descent softens that aspiration, preventing the opening from sounding triumphant.

The song has a thirty-two-bar AABA structure, with three similar eight-bar sections surrounding a contrasting bridge. The A sections begin with the familiar “Somewhere over the rainbow” idea, while the bridge begins “Someday I’ll wish upon a star.” This structure combines repetition with contrast. The returning melody establishes the imagined destination, while the more fluttering bridge paints a more whimsical picture of it. The bridge melody returns in the outro with the “bluebirds fly” lyrics, giving the ending a playful, light feeling.

Garland’s interpretation of the song is also crucial to delivering its message. The melody suits her range, so it does not sound strained, allowing her to give each note a personal feeling. The opening octave is sung with a sense of wonder, while the later phrases carry sadness. The orchestral accompaniment supports her without overpowering her, allowing the song to feel intimate even within a large Hollywood production. This balance between intimacy and grandeur helped the song become memorable beyond the film.

Impact

The song offered comfort to American soldiers during World War II. Garland performed “Over the Rainbow” for U.S. troops in a 1943 radio broadcast. A recording of her performance with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra was sent to American troops, offering hope for better days.

One of the song’s most significant cultural effects was its role in Garland’s relationship with gay male audiences. Garland became an important gay icon because many gay men identified with her vulnerability and resilience in her public and private life. After being dropped by MGM and facing personal difficulties, including failed marriages and hospitalisation, she repeatedly returned to the stage. These comebacks offered listeners facing social rejection a powerful image of survival. As the gay writer Dumont Howard, quoted by Dyer, explains, “it is her indomitable spirit, not her self-destructive tendencies, that appeals to gay audiences” (Dyer, 2004, p. 142).

Her concerts also gave many gay listeners a sense of belonging. “Over the Rainbow” became particularly meaningful because its imagined world offered a metaphor for freedom from prejudice and the possibility of living openly. In Heavenly Bodies, Richard Dyer quotes a fan who describes the song as envisioning a world where gay people could live without restricting their lives. This brings together what makes “Over the Rainbow” so moving, with the combination of Arlen and Harburg’s heartfelt composition and Garland’s sincere performance, the song gives hope to the audience that life could be better, somewhere beyond their present circumstances.

Bibliography

Furia, P., & Lasser, M. (2006). America’s songs: The stories behind the songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley. Routledge.

Meyerson, H., & Harburg, E. (1993). Who put the rainbow in The Wizard of Oz?: Yip Harburg, lyricist. University of Michigan Press.

BBC Music. (2017, June 6). Over the Rainbow: How this powerful song has soundtracked history. https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/efc32112-f7a0-49b3-bfae-6e6a72a80572

Riverwalk Jazz. (n.d.). Over the Rainbow: The music of Harold Arlen. Stanford University. https://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/program/over-rainbow-music-harold-arlen

The Kid Should See This. (n.d.). Judy Garland sings “Over the Rainbow” for U.S. troops (1943). https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/judy-garland-sings-over-the-rainbow

International Documentary Association. (n.d.). Somewhere over the rainbow: The life and times of lyricist Yip Harburg. https://www.documentary.org/project/somewhere-over-rainbow-life-and-times-lyricist-yip-harburg