04.08.2008 8:35 pm
‘American Idol’: ‘Over the Rainbow’
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The judges loved Jason Castro’s ukulele version of “Over the Rainbow” Tuesday night. I didn’t much. (What do I know?) But Simon’s comment did lead me to look up the other version he mentioned, by “Israel somebody,” on YouTube. Wow. The singer is Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, he’s Hawaiian and he died in 1997, at age 38. The song has been used in movies, but not any I’ve seen; I know I’ve heard it somewhere, though. Here it is, in a gorgeous medley with “What a Wonderful World.”
Wait! I was right. It’s the song played on the “ER” episode when Mark Greene died. Very haunting.
The Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version of “Over the Rainbow” was also used as a closing song on an episode of “Cold Case”.
They also used the song in the film Meet Joe Black.
And in the 2000 movie “Finding Forrester.”
it was also in 50 first dates
TO compare it to the original that Israel Kamakawiwo’s version would not be fair to Jason, but if that is what everyone is doing, then Jason’s mistake was playing his ukelele too fast because the tempo to the Israel’s verison was a more mellow tempo, that what makes if more moving and memorable. Jason does have voice to carry the melody, but he should have someone else do the ukelele.
Iz’s version has also been in numerous commercials. It was pretty darn ubiquitous for a time.
If ukulele is your thing, be sure to see Jake Shimabukoro April 25 at Lucas School House. He’s like the Jimi Hendrix of the uke. Jaw-dropping.
If you like the ukelele, check out The Who’s “Blue, Red, and Gray” on “By Numbers”. Fantastic. Also, listen to “We’ll Soon Forget” by Pearl Jam. Also very good.
I thought he looked like a 2008 version of Tiny Tim.
I first heard it in 50FD and later in some commercials. I enjoy it. There is something sweet, but also an underlying yearning to it. As opposed to an oppulent orchestrations from previous versions, it is a simple arrangement that may be more accessible to some.
My favorite version of SWOTRB was…believe it or not…in John Woo’s movie “Face/Off”. During a rather violent scene, in order to protect a child, Gina Gershon puts headphones on the kid and tells him to hide…while all this carnage is going on around him the sweetest version of this song is being played. Not sure who’s version it is, but it is good.
….then, as per all John Woo’s movies, there were slow motion shots of people exiting cars and dove’s flying while a ground fog circled them all…
Wikipedia says that the Face/Off version of SWOTRB was done by Olivia Newton-John. It’s available on iTunes.