Somewhere Over The Rainbow


** I posted a slightly different version of this video yesterday.

For those of you who follow American Idol, you'll already know that Jason Castro, one of the contestants sang this version of Over the Rainbow on Tuesday night.

It's a version originally done by a beautiful and wonderful Hawaiian singer named Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. He died in 1997 at the age of 38.

For those who have never heard the original version sung by Iz, please watch and listen:



. . . to remember him and because it's so beautiful.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lovely!!!!!
April 10, 2008 7:10 am
Anonymous said…
I'm so glad you did this! Ever since I saw Finding Forrester, I've wondered who performed this song in the movie. I just loved it and didn't know who sang it. I showed the movie to my creative writing classes and always enjoyed hearing that song so much. Thank you! I just discovered that there's a soundtrack of the movie I'll buy along with CD's he's made, too. Yea!
April 12, 2008 11:36 pm
Anonymous said…
I went over to listen to some of his songs on You Tube and really like "In This Life," "White Sandy Beach," "Hawaii Aloha," "Starting All Over Again," and "Kamalani." I heard a few others, too, and watched the tribute to him with "Over the Rainbow" playing. That one said he died from respiratory problems as a result of his weight which was over 700 pounds. I also watched the video of his wife talking about unconditional love and their relationship.

Did you see him when you were in Hawaii any of those times? What a voice and what heart! This makes me want to go to Hawaii even more than I already do.
April 13, 2008 12:45 am
Anonymous said…
Thank you for posting this. What a treat to hear this again. I don't know what it is - but I always breathe differently when I hear it.
Stella
April 13, 2008 5:38 pm
Anonymous said…
I'd never heard of this man. Wonderful singer, thanks for educating me.
April 14, 2008 11:41 am
Anonymous said…
Ah, thank you so much for that! I'm having a bad day and that helped a lot.

I don't even like the song much, but I love this version, and I never knew who recorded it. Thank you!
April 28, 2008 2:29 pm
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