Why do School Choirs Always sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"?

[GonzoLeaper]

Get this...my older brother had the same elementary school Music teacher who (around 1981) had them sing the theme song to M*A*S*H. If you don't know the lyrics, look 'em up and imagine a class of 5th graders singing that

Haha- wow! Suicide is painless.

I like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" pretty well- obviously The Muppets do too, since they've sung it a couple of times. (I know they did in "The Muppets Go to the Movies"- was it not somewhere in "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" as well?)
Anyway- I guess it's just a nice song that a lot of kids know from "The Wizard of Oz" and it's fun to sing.
It would definitely be great to sing some Muppet songs like "The Rainbow Connection" or "Being Green" though.

 

[animalrescuer]

My high school's show choir sang this arrangement of "Over the Rainbow". Do you think the Muppets could have sang the song this way?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx6y7kXH608

 

[Sgt Floyd]

I really dislike this song. But I can't say that I have heard any choir I've seen sing it

I've heard it used as a practice song though

 

[D'Snowth]

I really dislike this song.

Why? !

 

[Puckrox]

I love this song. There are some really good versions of it out there. I wish my choir had sung it in high school!

 

[D'Snowth]

Ours sang it in middle school.

Man... what a week that was... we were putting together an end-of-the-year spectacular before the student body, faculty, and their parents, it was a bit of a nightmare for me, considering I was on the technical staff (our video technology class, in which yours truly was in, was the technical staff); more specifically, I ended up being the stage manager.

We rehearsed Monday through Wednesday, and the big show was Thursday night... I almost lost my "job" simply because I HAD to run to the bathroom for just a minute, so I wasn't there to instruct people where they needed to be, and suddenly, everybody was up-in-arms about it, because apparently they felt the job was too much for me to handle. I forget how I convinced them otherwise, but after the big show Thursday night, I got praise instead.

And it wasn't just "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", we had tributes to Michael Jackson (before he died, mind you), Maya Angelou, we had our West African dancers and drummers, etc.

 

[The Shoe Fairy]

I sung a lot of stuff I didn't want to in primary school choirs (that I didn't want to be in) but at no point did we ever sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
A more pressing issue is why do songs involving rainbows translate so well to the musical saw?

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Why? !

no real reason. I just dont like it

 

[Katzi428]

Get this...my older brother had the same elementary school Music teacher who (around 1981) had them sing the theme song to M*A*S*H. If you don't know the lyrics, look 'em up and imagine a class of 5th graders singing that.

Convincing John

Oh yeah real smart. Having kids that are 10 & 11 years old sing the theme from M* A*S*H* . (For those that don't know or haven't looked up the lyrics ,I won't ruin it for you.) All I wonder,CJ,is where did your brother's chorus teacher get his music diploma; a Cracker Jack box?

 

[D'Snowth]

Kind of reminds me of that controversy that started up last year of that little group of second grade girls, all dressed up in revealing costumes, and dancing provocatively to Beyonce's "Single Ladies", but the parents of the girls, the dance instructors, and the girls themselves swore they were NOT inspired by Beyonce's actual video from the song for their number, but rather, The Chipettes' rendition of it.