Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?: Yip Harburg, Lyricist

by Harold Meyerson and Ernie Harburg

Book Overview

". . . required reading for anyone interested in the great American songs." -New York Times Book Review Many of us can sing along with Dorothy when she imagines a place "Over the Rainbow." And we all remember the Depression-era classic "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" But very few can name the man who put the words to these celebrated hallmarks of American music- Yip Harburg. Five hundred songs spanning a fifty-year career bear witness to the brilliance of this until-now obscure figure. Plunge into this scrupulously documented volume and discover how Harburg, once a poet of light verse, played a major role in the transformation of the Broadway revue into the sophisticated musical of the 1940s and 1950s. With extensive and exclusive interviews and lyrical analysis, the authors capture Harburg's wit, distinctive voice, and creative and collaborative methods. Inquiry into Harburg's Jewish, New York City roots, apprenticeship in his craft, and involvement in the radical politics of the 1930s- he was blacklisted in the 1950s- puts into context the seemingly irreconcilable skepticism and optimism that contoured this lyrical genius's life and work. Harold Meyerson is Executive Editor and chief political columnist, L.A. Weekly , and is on the editorial board of Dissent . Ernie Harburg is a social psychologist and epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, coauthor (with Bernard Rosenberg) of The Broadway Musical: Collaboration in Commerce and Art , and Yip Harburg's son.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0472104829
• ISBN13: 9780472104826
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Length: 454 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Portrait of a creative mind and passionate soul

Yip Harburg, the prodigiously talented lyricist best known for "Brother Can You Spare a Dime," and "Over the Rainbow", is the subject of this splendid biography. Harburg's gifts were uniquely his, but this book shows us how his (financially but not spiritually) impoverished father cultivate Harburg's talents by taking him regularly to the Yiddish theater on the Lower East Side and reading funny stories to him in the evening. Harburg's insights into the elements of creative writing -- a sense of passion, an eye for paradox, an intelligent plan, etc-- are recounted in loving detail. Whether you read this book for insight into this wonderful man's heart, or his craft, you will be richly rewarded.

Portrait of a creative mind and passionate soul

Yip Harburg, the prodigiously talented lyricist best known for "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" and "Over the Rainbow", is the subject of this splendid biography. Harburg's gifts were uniquely his, but this book shows us how his (financially, but not spiritually) impoverished father cultivated Harburg's talents by taking him regularly to the Yiddish theater on the Lower East Side and reading funny stories to him in the evening. Harburg's insights into the elements of creative writing-- a sense of passion, an eye for paradox, an intelligent plan, e.t.c.-- are recounted in loving detail. Whether you read this book for insight into this wonderful man's heart, or his craft, you will be richly rewarded.