Somewhere Over the Rainbow Trivia Questions

It won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 12th Academy Awards. This is true—but many people assume it didn't because it lost the popular vote in early radio polls.

MGM executives considered removing the song after early test screenings, fearing it dragged the pacing. Only strong pushback from the producer and composer saved it.

The song never reached #1 on the Billboard charts in 1939. It peaked at #5 on the singles chart. Its massive popularity grew over time, not instantly.

Garland died in June 1969, months before the 1970 Oscars. She never performed the song at the Academy Awards—though she did sing it on her TV show and in concerts.

This is a charming myth. Lyricist Yip Harburg actually said the rainbow imagery came from a line in the poem 'The Rainbow' by Walter Scott, and from his own imagination.

No comma appears in the official title. The myth likely comes from a misremembered typesetting error in a few early printings, but the standard title has never had one.

The leap from 'Some-where' (C to high E♭) is a major tenth—over an octave. That dramatic vocal jump is part of what makes the melody so distinctive and hard to sing.

His 1993 medley with 'What a Wonderful World' became the best-selling version of 'Over the Rainbow' in history, going multi-platinum and topping digital charts decades later.