Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World

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"Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World"
Single by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
from the album Ka ʻAnoʻi and Facing Future
Released 1990 (K'A)
November 1, 1993 (FF)
Recorded 1988
Genre
Length 5:08
Label Big Boy Records

"Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" is a medley of the songs "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole and released on his albums Ka ʻAnoʻi and Facing Future.

Recording history

"Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" was originally recorded in a spur-of-the-moment demo session in 1988, and was done in a single take. At the time, copies of the recording were only made for Kamakawiwoʻole himself and recording engineer Milan Bertosa. Five years later, in 1993, Bertosa played the song for producer Jon de Mello while the two were completing work on Facing Future, and de Mello decided to include it in the album.[1]

Background

According to the Israel Kamakawiwoʻole website, Universal Films first became interested in using "Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" in the movie and on the soundtrack for Meet Joe Black after director Martin Brest became interested in the song.[2] Kamakawiwoʻole's recording of "Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" would be used on other soundtracks as well including the soundtracks for Finding Forrester, 50 First Dates, Fred Claus, Happy, Happy and IMAX: Hubble 3D.[3] It was also featured on TV series like Charmed, ER, Scrubs, Cold Case, Glee and the UK original version of Life On Mars among others.[4]

"Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" reached #12 on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart the week of January 31, 2004 (for the survey week ending January 18, 2004).

On July 21, 2006, BBC Radio 1 announced that "Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World (True Dreams)" would be released as a single in America. To this day, the song is still receiving airplay from Hawaiian and adult alternative-formatted radio stations.

Cliff Richard recorded his own version of the medley, released as a single from the album Wanted, which charted in the UK in 2001 and Aselin Debison recorded the medley for her 2002 album Sweet is the Melody.

The song was used in several eToys.com commercials in the late 1990s.

Chart performance

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – Over the Rainbow" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW / WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW / WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – Over the Rainbow". Tracklisten. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – Over the Rainbow" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – Over the Rainbow" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW / WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD". Singles Top 60. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – Over the Rainbow". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Israel Kamakawiwo'ole – Chart history" Billboard Adult Contemporary for Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Somewhere over the Rainbow in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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