McCorkle was born in Berkeley, California. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday in Paris in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission in Brussels, but moved instead to London in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. While in the UK, she made two albums which, although well received, enjoyed only limited circulation.
In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critics.
During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. She was recorded by the Smithsonian Institution which at the time made her the youngest singer ever to have been included in its popular music series. McCorkle played Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls five times and Carnegie Hall three times, and was featured soloist with Skitch Henderson and the 80-piece New York Pops in a concert of Brazilian music.
Thanks to her linguistic skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Irving Berlin and Mae West.
McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and cancer, and took her own life at age 55 by leaping off the balcony of her highrise Manhattan apartment. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play. Suicide was ruled the cause of death.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
High above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
High above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
The song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sung by Susannah McCorkle is a beautiful expression of hope and longing for a better life. The lyrics are simple yet profound, describing a place far away where dreams come true and troubles disappear. The song begins by painting a vivid picture of a magical land that the singer has heard of in a lullaby. This place is "somewhere over the rainbow, way up high", suggesting that it is not of this world, but perhaps a place in the imagination or in the afterlife.
The second verse of the song is more personal, as the singer describes their own desire to escape from their troubles and find happiness. They wish upon a star to be transported to this magical land, leaving behind their worries and fears. The imagery is vivid and whimsical, describing the troubles melting away like lemon drops and the singer soaring high above the city. Throughout the song, there is a feeling of yearning and longing for something beyond the mundane world, something more meaningful and fulfilling.
The final verse of the song brings the focus back to the bluebirds flying over the rainbow. The singer asks why they cannot follow the birds and find their own way to that magical place. This adds an element of frustration and sadness to the song, suggesting that the singer feels trapped by their current circumstances and longs for the freedom to pursue their dreams.
Overall, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is a moving song that captures the universal human desire for happiness and fulfillment. The vivid imagery and beautiful melody make it a timeless classic that continues to resonate with listeners today.
Line by Line Meaning
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There exists a place beyond reality, beyond the farthest point in the sky
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
A utopia that can only be dreamt of or sung about in bedtime stories
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
Above that distant horizon, the heavens resemble a beautiful cerulean sea
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.
The aspirations that you conjure up in your wildest imaginations can manifest in reality
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
There shall come a day when a single desire can transport you to a place free of life's burdens
Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
High above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
At this place, worries dissolve like confectionery and reside above the smokestacks, that's where you'll discover me
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
The azure-winged creatures are fortunate enough to fly to that mystical place, whereas I can't seem to reach it
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
The question repeats as a rhetorical acknowledgement of the unfairness of it all
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
The location of this distant paradise is unfathomably out of reach
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
But I continue to hear whispers of this mystical land in the soft song of bedtime
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
Where those who have been lucky enough to reach can look up and see the beauty of the bluest skies
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.
It is a place where the most daring and audacious of dreams can be realised
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
One day I will long for this place so deeply that by just wishing, I could leave everything behind and enter through its gates
Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
High above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
I will be waiting higher than any chimney, where troubles are nothing more than fleeting worries that can be shed just like a sugary lemon drop
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
The bluebirds glide with such ease over the rainbow, and I can't help but wonder, why can't I take part in their journey
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
I ask this question again, but with a touch of sorrow and a sense of resignation that I may never be able to reach that place
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind