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

[D'Snowth]

Not that it's not a good song, I'm just curious as to why this is one song that almost all school choirs have to sing at events and shows?

 

[CensoredAlso]

Honestly I don't recall mine every singing that, lol. Though I did sing it for a talent show in 5th grade!

But I suppose it might be a frequent choice because it's a song most kids are familiar with and will have heard many times.

 

[Nick22]

who knows. hahaha. we've sang it at my school before. i think it was because the play was wizard of oz, i dunno. it was years ago.

 

[Convincing John]

I never remember singing it in school, but I bet a lot of schools do because EVERYONE has seen (or at least heard of) "The Wizard of Oz".

We should have a thread about school music programs around here...(boy do I have some stories to tell!)

I often wondered why our school, like a lot of schools, sang the song "Kookaburra." It goes like this:

“Kookaburra sits in the ol’ gum tree.
Merry, merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be.”

Anyone else ever sang this in school? Our Music teachers always used it somewhere in the programs. Years later I found out that the bird's nickname was "laughing...er...synonym-for-donkey-I-can't-type-here".

When I was in 3rd grade, we sang a song that was called "Roll On Columbia". It's about a river.

For whatever reason, the Music teacher only gave us the chorus to sing for the program. No one sang the verses.

Without the rest of the song, here's the chorus:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Roll on, Columbia, roll on.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Roll on, Columbia, roll on. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]So, Roll on, Columbia, roll on"[/FONT]

We all sang this right after singing some commercial jingles. (We sang the Armour Hot Dogs song...no joke!) Without the verses, some of us were confused as to what "Columbia" was. Half the class wondered why we were singing about deodorant. Some kids thought it was about a brand of light bulbs rolling around on the floor.

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

 

[CensoredAlso]

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.

Yeah I was gonna say!

 

[Slackbot]

Heh. I was in school when The Muppet Movie first came out. There was an event in which a bunch of Atlanta schools send groups to sing songs, and ours was far from the only one to sing The Rainbow Connection. I guess it really made an impression on us.

 

[animalrescuer]

Honestly I don't recall mine every singing that, lol. Though I did sing it for a talent show in 5th grade!

But I suppose it might be a frequent choice because it's a song most kids are familiar with and will have heard many times.

I think you're right. It's one of those songs that's heard many times and something that can be memorized fairly easily. My high school's show choir sang this, but with additional lyrics in the beginning. They sang this for "The Wizard of Oz" play they did for the drama club and for the spring concert, I think during my senior year.

Although I wish my high school choir had done "Rainbow Connection".

 

[Beakerfan]

I've always wished I could be part of a choir that sang this.

 

[Puckrox]

I've always wished I could be part of a choir that sang this.

Oh man! I wish my high school had done this! Instead of all boys it would have been all girls, and it would have been awesome!

 

[dwmckim]

Oddly enough, i've been in numerous choirs throughout my life - both school (elementary to college), church (brought in as a "ringer" for Phoenix's largest Catholic church even though i had never been Catholic and was even an aethiest at the time!), and gay choirs - and have never sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow!