Song Analysis: Over The Rainbow, By Judy Garland

The song Over The Rainbow is a very iconic song sung by Judy Garland in the late 1930s. This song was written for the movie The Wizard of Oz that is most likely where it gained most of its popularity and praise. The song has also had a very unique cover done by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole in 1993. This cover of the popular ballad was and is loved by many. This cover also includes a verse from the song What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong. Although songs that are covered have mostly the same lyrics, and somewhat similar chord progression, the songs can also differ in many different ways. The original version of Over The Rainbow has a very slow and sort of majestic feel to it. It feels as though Garland is standing on top of a mountain watching …show more content…
The feel of the song differs a lot from the original. It is still sung at somewhat the same tempo, and as far as I can tell, it is in the same key, but there is so much more emotion in Israel in his version, it gives it a more personal and “feel good” mood, that is the best way that I can describe it. It seems as though the message of this song is also a lot more personal than the original. It feels like Israel is singing about his life and he is singing from a point in his life where he was not very happy, but was just trying to look forward and be optimistic about life. I think that the message from Israel’s cover and the original are somewhat similar because they both feel like they are talking about life getting better or a better life being in arms reach. I feel as though Israel’s cover is just a lot more powerful, mainly because of the way that he sings the song and the emotion that one can hear from his voice as he sings it. But overall the message of the song has not changed to …show more content…
I think that the instrumentation in these songs really are the main thing that give them their different unique moods. The original song by Garland is a ballad, it is very slow and feels almost proper in a way. The instruments used sound like they are very orchestral and classical, which could be a reason that the song feels the way it does. The emotion is not so much there and it feels more like the singer is trying to daydream. Israel’s cover on the other hand is definitely not a ballad. It would fall under the category of Tejano, Hawaiian. This type of music comes from Hawaii, and it makes sense for Israel’s version to be in this genre because he is Hawaiian and almost all of his other songs are Hawaiian songs. The instrumentation of Israel’s cover is very small, the only instrument used is a Ukelele, and it fits so perfectly with his voice. Personally this cover is one of my favorite songs of all time. Other than the instrumentation of the original and it’s cover counterpart, Israel also sings the song in a more emotional way, at the end of almost every single line of the song, Israel would exaggerate the end of the word to give the song more emotion. Whereas the original song was just sung straight