Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I have a secret to spill. I am a Wizard of Oz nerd...big time. It is one of those movies that seems to have been with me throughout my life. Like most people, I grew up watching this movie. I never really had a favorite character because I loved all of them...even the flying monkeys! (Unlike most people, they did not scare me.) I had the entire movie memorized by the time I was eight years old.

When I was younger my mom use to do after school daycare at my house. Which was great because there was always kids to play with. I decided that I would put on a Wizard of Oz production with the daycare kids, and then we would perform it for all of our parents. Being that I was the oldest, I of course had to be every main character as well as the voice of Dorothy.

What is the voice of Dorothy you ask? My younger sister begged me to be Dorothy, so I let her but told her she could not sing. My voice was so beautiful (not) that I was going to hide behind the wall and sing for her while she lip sang. (I obviously was delusional and was a typical older sister.) All the other kids played the munchkins and my 3 year old brother was the wizard. I was rotten and apparently was on a power kick. Our poor parents sat through the entire show and I can only assume they were trying to hide their boredom and laughter.

I love everything about Wizard of Oz, and to this day will still put it on if I need to cheer myself up. It would only make sense then that I would be marrying a guy whose nickname in high school was "The Tinman." Check it out, he does kind of resemble the tinman.

{Right image via John Strange}

I could go on forever about my love for Wizard of Oz, but I am sure you are more interested in why I am even bringing this up. When I think about music for the ceremony, one song I cannot get out of my head is Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I have such a huge connection to this song, and it seems only fitting for it to play at the wedding.

On my iPod I have FIVE versions of this song. Why I need so many, I have no idea. I think every time I find a new version I just automatically hit "buy song." Then later regret it when it dings my account. Anyway, I started listening to these various versions and nothing felt right. For me it all felt too "in your face", and I was searching for a subtle version

It took some digging but I finally came across an instrumental version played in the Canon in D. There is no video format of this song so the best I can do is give you the link if you would like to preview or buy the song on iTunes. I absolutely love this version and I think it is perfect to have playing while our parents and grandparents are being seated before the ceremony.

I feel that music can really make or break things, and I am ecstatic that I found a great version of such an important song. Most likely nobody will notice but I will know it is playing and that is all that matters.

Do you have a song that is important to you that you want played at your wedding in a subtle way?