by Peter Moore

Number Twenty One: Israel Kamakawiwo Ole – Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Sticking with the ukuleles for a little longer, I’m going to nominate this version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole, for today’s Vibe Box. It’s a song that’s nearing the impressive milestone of fourteen million YouTube hits.

A dreamy, whimsical song of the very best variety, the lyricist E.Y. Harburg must have considered it an excellent morning’s work when he sat down and came up with the effortless couplet: ‘Where troubles melt like lemon drops, Away above the chimney tops,’ which, let’s face it, is strong enough imagery to stimulate the imagination of even the most logical mathematician.

There might be something wretchedly comic about the vast body of Kamakawiwo Ole hunched over the tiny instrument for all the world like Mount Kilimanjaro over a goat, but within twenty seconds you’ll realise that his size is a nothing more than a momentary distraction from his voice. Deep, powerful and effortless, Kamakawiwo Ole’s voice has been lauded as the sound of the island – his memory immortalised amongst the palms, on the beaches, in the forests and the hills.