"Over the Rainbow", also known as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", is a ballad by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in which it was sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland's signature song.
Judy Garland singing "Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz
Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Ballads are generally melodic enough to get the listener's attention.
To emphasize the emotional aspect of a power ballad, crowds customarily hold up lighters adjusted to produce a large flame (or, as a more recent alternative, a turned-on smartphone screen or flashlight function).
"After the Ball", a ballad by Charles K. Harris, was the most successful song of its era, selling over two million copies of sheet music.
In 1962, Frank Sinatra released Sinatra and Strings, a set of standard ballads, which became one of the most critically acclaimed works of Sinatra's entire Reprise period.
Celine Dion's albums were generally constructed on the basis of melodramatic soft rock ballads, with sprinklings of uptempo pop and rare forays into other genres.
