Judy Garland - Somewhere Over The Rainbow

[VoR]

Lots of talk about Pride and Queer History this month, so what do today's gays make of what is arguably the most iconic gay anthem of them all?



The Wizard of Oz version is obviously a classic, but being an incurable miserablist I much prefer the 1961 Carnegie Hall version with its tragic air of fading hopes and crushed dreams. The vocal is technically ropey but my God is she living every word of it.



The version by that fat Hawaiian can absolutely do one.

 

[Christian]

It's utterly iconic so you really can't fault it. In fact, the whole of the Wizard Of Oz score is just as good too.

The less said about the Andy Lloyd Webber musical version of it the better though. Seriously shit doesn't even begin to cover it

 

[Marilyn]

12455/10

 

[Christian]

I've just popped on the Super Deluxe Edition of the score and it really is STELLAR.

 

[Commotion]

'Get Happy' is my favourite Judy opus.

It is the gayest thing in the history of sodomy.

 

[Commotion]

My Judy rate

1. Get Happy
2. San Francisco
3. Somewhere over the rainbow.
4. The man that got away
5. The Trolley Song
6. Zing! Went the strings of my heart.
7. Chicago
8. The Battle Hymn of the Republic
9. You made me love you.
10. Liza

 

[Breathe]

It's obviously a classic. I only gave it a 9 as I prefer the Eva Cassidy version.

 

[lolly]

Beyond reproach

 

[Christian]

Gosh, I can't STAND "Get Happy"

 

[K.C.]

She's the original QoL.

But I'm pretty sure "I Will Survive" is the widely accepted Gay National Anthem.

 

[VoR]

Nah, Rainbow carries far more cultural and political weight. Plus it's inexorably associated with HER, and she's still probably the definitive gay icon even if awareness of her is pretty dim among younger queens.

 

[lolly]

As Rufus Wainwright said

Judy is not a gay icon at all. She is somewhere far beyond that. She is a gay beacon. A gay saint. She has led the way through the darkness for some 50 years. Whether it's the Wizard of Oz or the Judy at Carnegie Hall LP - these are brilliant touchstones for the gay experience. A kind of communion takes place between a gay listener and Judy. And of course there is the drink and drugs counter-story, which is very gay for one reason or another. In the postwar years in Western culture, it has become somehow socially acceptable to be drunk and stoned. There is such a gay fascination to that story. Gay people understand a party, that's for sure! There is no level on which Judy Garland doesn't connect with gay men. She married one, for chrissakes!

 

[VoR]

Wasn't it Rufus who described Kylie as "Gay shorthand for joy"?

Both pretty perfect descriptions really.

 

[lolly]

The very same article.

I love Kylie, she's the anti-Madonna. Self-knowledge is a truly beautiful thing and Kylie knows herself inside out. She is what she is and there is no attempt to make quasi-intellectual statements to substantiate it. She is the gay shorthand for joy.

 

[VoR]

I really like Rufus' version of the Judy Garland Carnegie concert, although more for his between-song patter than any of his versions being especially superior.

Rufus does SHOWGIRL next please.

 

[Phoenix]

I appreciate what it is but I just can't listen to it.

 

[Generic Account]

It's obviously amazing.

Best Judy performance to me is her Ol' Man River. She might not be a deep voiced African American man but the pain she brings to it is so powerful and her slightly haggard yet glamourous looks add to it.