"Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" is a medley of the songs "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo?ole and released on his albums Ka ?Ano?i and Facing Future.
Video Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World
Recording history
The song 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 Kamakawiwo?ole 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 as "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World".
"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).
Maps Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World
In popular culture
According to the Israel Kamakawiwo?ole website, Universal Studios first became interested in using the song in the movie and on the soundtrack for Meet Joe Black after director Martin Brest became interested in it. Kamakawiwo?ole's recording of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" has been used on other soundtracks as well including the soundtracks for Finding Forrester, 50 First Dates, Fred Claus, Happy, Happy, The Healer and IMAX: Hubble 3D. 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.
The song was used in several eToys.com commercials in the late 1990s. The song was also used in a series of Rice Krispies commercials in 2006.
The song is still receiving airplay from Hawaiian and adult alternative-formatted radio stations.
Other cover versions
Other artists have recorded the medley as well. Cliff Richard recorded his own version of the medley, released as a single from the album Wanted, which peaked at #11 on the UK Official Charts in 2001. Aselin Debison recorded the medley for her 2002 album Sweet Is the Melody. Elisabeth von Trapp included her interpretation of the medley in her album Poetic License, released in June 2004. During season seven of American Idol, Jason Castro performed a cover of the song for his "Top 8" performance.
Chart performance
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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