Our final saunter around the world of colourful songs ends approriately with the Rainbow. A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the Sun. Rainbows can be full circles. However, the observer normally sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground, and centered on a line from the Sun to the observer’s eye. In a primary rainbow, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it. In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc. This is caused by the light being reflected twice on the inside of the droplet before leaving it.
“Over the Rainbow” is a ballad composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and 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. About five minutes into the film, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands to listen to her story of an unpleasant incident involving her dog, Toto, and the town spinster, Miss Gulch. Aunt Em tells her to “find yourself a place where you won’t get into any trouble”. This prompts her to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, “Some place where there isn’t any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It’s not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It’s far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain…”, at which point she begins singing.
“I Can Sing a Rainbow,” also known simply as “Sing a Rainbow,” is a popular song written by Arthur Hamilton. It was featured in the 1955 film Pete Kelly’s Blues where it was sung by Peggy Lee. The song has been used to teach children names of colours. Despite the name of the song, two of the seven colours mentioned (“red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue”) – pink and purple – are not actually a colour of the rainbow. They are also not presented in order of the visible light spectrum.
“Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” is a song sung by Lesley Gore. It was originally released on Gore’s 1963 album Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts. Composed by Marvin Hamlisch, the single was released in conjunction with Gore’s rendition in the 1965 film Ski Party. It was arranged by Claus Ogerman and produced by Quincy Jones. The tune peaked at #13 on the Billboard, who said of the single that “back on the happy rhythm trail, Lesley comes up with a winner in this summertime rouser.”
“She’s a Rainbow” is a song by the Rolling Stones and was featured on their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request. It has been called “the prettiest and most uncharacteristic song” that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote for the Stones, although somewhat ambiguous in intention. “She’s a Rainbow” was released as a single in December 1967 and went to No. 25 in the United States.
Rainbow was a British children’s television series, created by Paela Lonsdale, which ran from November 1972 until March 1992 when Thames Television lost its ITV franchise. The series was revived by HTV in 1994 until 24 March 1997, in two different formats from the original Thames series, with differing cast members. The theme song for the show was actually a small part of the full version, also called “Rainbow” and written by Hugh Portnow, Lady Hornsbrie, Hugh Fraser and Tim Thomas of the band Telltale, who regularly appeared in the first three seasons of the show. It was released by Music for Pleasure in 1973 with the B-side “Windy Day”. Although Telltale left the show in 1974, their recording of the theme tune continued to be used until the end of the original show’s run in 1992.
“Rainbow Connection” is a song from the 1979 film The Muppet Movie, with music and lyrics written by Paul Williams and Keneth Ascher. The song was performed by Jim Henson – as Kermit the Frog – in the film. “Rainbow Connection” reached No. 25 on the Billboard in November 1979, with the song remaining in the Top 40 for seven weeks total. Williams and Ascher received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song that year. In 2021, “Rainbow Connection” was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
“Over The Rainbow” Eva Cassidy recorded a version of the song for The Other Side (1992). After her death in 1996, it was included on the posthumous compilation Songbird (1998). In December 2000, a clip of Cassidy performing the song was featured on the BBC2 program Top of the Pops 2. Following the premiere, it became the program’s most-requested video in history, and demand for the album soared after the clip was re-aired in January 2001. The song was subsequently released as a single the same year. “Over the Rainbow” became Cassidy’s first single to chart in the United Kingdom reaching number 44 in 2001. In Scotland, it reached number 36, giving Cassidy her first top-forty single in that region. The song also reached number 27 in Ireland in December, becoming her only top-forty hit in that country.
Rainbow is the third studio album Kesha. It was released in August 2017 by RCA. Primarily a pop record, Rainbow incorporates elements of rock soul and country. Its lyrical themes range from letting go of the past, finding forgiveness within oneself for past mistakes, self worth, and Kesha has been through some dark times, but she was able to find her rainbow to guide her out of all of it. Her song “Rainbow,” the titular track off the albums details the hardships she went through and how she didn’t let them drag her down. Through the clouds, she was able to shine through like a rainbow.
“Rainbow” is a song by the Australian singer Sia, released in September 2017, as the lead single from the animated film My Little Pony: The Movie. In the film, the song is performed by a pop singer pegasus named Songbird Serenade (voiced by herself). The lyric penned by, James Vincent Notorleva (JIM), “I can see your rainbow / in your tears / as they’re falling down”, has inspired the current makeup trend of “rainbow tears”. The music video for “Rainbow” was directed by Daniel Askill and features Maddie Ziegler with choreography by Ryan Heffington. The video cuts between footage of Songbird Serenade performing for a large crowd and Ziegler dancing only on a stage covered by a thin strip of water, wearing a wig resembling Songbird Serenade’s mane, and successfully fighting and conquering the elements
