Lambs Songwriters Salon May 15, 2023 - Yip Harburg

May 2023 Salon Highlighted Songwriter: Yip Harburg We began with a consideration of the words of Over the Rainbow, that the word Over was the discovery in the song, that Yip Harburg's future wife suggested the word Somewhere to fill the Arlen opening melodic Octave and the word informally became part of the title, that MGM introduced the rainbow to the Baum book to announce its full spectrum technicolor, that songwriter/producer Arthur Freed demanded the song stay in, that I'm Wishing from Snow White was a smash hit. Jason highlighted the similarities between the two songs thereafter. It looks like Disney introduced to the American Musical the "I Want" song. We considered the Bridge as a Coda, and the replacement there of "over" with "Beyond" the Rainbow. Grey skies looming over Europe, to Yip Harburg the Rainbow was that ray of Hope. Song Presentations by Susan Horowitz (In Ozzie's Bar/About the Wiz Reprise) Susan demonstrated how her catchy song functioned in the first and second half of her new, somewhat Burlesque, musical, Rainbow to Oz. Both songs are sung solo while calling for response from lead character "Dorothy" Peter Dizozza (Go Lucky) An early sketch of a song about interaction with a robot. Annette suggested Pinnocchio, not the AI premise that Pinnocchio wishes to be a real boy, but that Gippetto wishes for it. Suggested title "Peter and the Robot" Jason Trachtenberg (Tell Me Before I Die) Jason confronted the subject of death with an eleventh hour love song for Dostoyevski, his lead character in his musical-in-development The Statue. Annette Hollander (On a Walk Down Mulberry Lane) Annette wrote this swinging sing-along friendly Italian-nuanced imagined return to Mulberry Street during the pandemic. Steve DePass (If You Know God) Revisiting Steve's classic song highlighted its humourous presumption, that someone who knows God could put in a good word for him. We ended the night with the song that got MGM to hire Arlen/Harburg - MGM's At the Circus Groucho song, Lydia the Tatooed Lady. We considered the use of Qualifiers and Parentheticals in prolonging monologues, and other tests of polite listening. Steve rejected the teaching of Off-Rhymes as an acceptable rhyme. Unless for humour, the off-rhyme clouds comprehension which can be built from the ear's expectation to hear perfect rhymes to fill in lost words. (Jeffrey Lewis is on tour. This night coincided with Joe Bendik's revival of the East Village Antihoot, which brought Jason and me downtown thereafter.)