Over The Rainbow
From BeatlesWiki
Over The Rainbow is a 1939 song written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg for the film The Wizard of Oz. The Beatles, influenced by Gene Vincent's 1959 cover, played it live from 1960 to 1962. Though no recording from this era exists, a recording exists of John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing along with the radio while this song is playing, believed to date from July or August 1963.
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Live Performances
The Beatles would often play Over The Rainbow in venues less tolerant of rock and roll. George Harrison recalls, "The gigs went up in stature and though the pay went up only a little bit, it did go up. We were now playing better places. We would still do our rock act, though we wouldn't get decent money for any gig apart from cabaret. I could pull out Till There Was You, or A Taste Of Honey - the more cabaret things - and John would sing Over The Rainbow and Ain't She Sweet. These did have cred for us because they were on a Gene Vincent album and we didn't realize Rainbow was a Judy Garland number, we thought it was Gene Vincent so we were happy to do it."
Personnel (Based on the 1963 recording)
- Lead Vocals: John Lennon
- Backing Vocals: Paul McCartney
Available Beatles Versions
- Home Recording, July/August 1963, (Bootlegs)
Known Unavailable Beatles Versions
Source
- LEWISOHN M., 1992, The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Hamlyn -- Buy it on Amazon.com
- LENNON, J., MCCARTNEY P., HARRION G., STARKEY R., 2002, The Beatles Anthology, Chronicle Books -- Buy it on Amazon.com
