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March 27, 2008

Somewhere Over the Rainbow-Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole



RIP "Iz"

May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997

6 comments:

Alison said...

That's one brilliant version of a song that actually used to grate on me when I heard it from the Wizzard of Oz , but a while back Chester found it on YT played as the audio to a video of scenes of Cyprus and it was so different , this guy really gave it new rythm and style , he also did a great change to 'what a wonderful world '
well I got a bit of a shock to see he has passed away , was it realted to his size by any chance ? I am not being mean , but he looks absolutley huge and has such man boobs ! oh it must have been a medical condition to cause him to be so big ...do you know anything about him much? well he looked popular there in the vid with the locals .
I enjoyed listening to that a lot today , nice choice .

Mike said...

Oh, I started to put in Judy Garland's version, the scene in WofOz, but I'm partial to this one.

I wasn't too familiar with him, and I had forgotten he had passed away. When I found this video, I had to go look him up. Ain't the internet great? I love to research things like that.

Yep, he was, as we say here in Texas, "a big ol' boy". From what I've seen, and a few things I've read, it seems that Polynesians are prone to being obese.

I'm not so sure it's genetic, but the introduction of processed foods into their diet, esp. in the years during and after WWII. The canned product (I'm loathe to call it "meat") SPAM is a big seller in Hawaii, and what with the island hopping leading towards Japan during the war, that's been the main reason for that particular race being prone to be unhealthily obese.

Funny about that, because if I put that into a forum I'm in which has several active race threads going at this time, it would be challenged as just another "white-bashing" or "blame America" post.

IOW, they'd call me a liberal. They're twits.

Thanks for posting!

Mike said...

I deleted your double post; hope you made a wish on it! -Grin-

Barb said...

I foud that version on a music sharing sight when I was out searchig for music to upload for Colleens mp3 player. I loved it so much (and so did she.)that I had to put it on my player. It made me go look for for more of his music. Thanks for posting that Mike...and geesh, like Alison, I didn't even know he'd died.

garazon said...

I'm with Alison, I've heard Judy Garland singing it just a hundred too many times from my kids constantly watching that movie growing up that now it grates my nerves as well. :o) Sorry Judy! As Alison said I found a video on YT one day with is as the audio and was totally blown away by it. A whole nother song with his version, amazing. and it fit the slideshow very very nicely if anyone wants a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljLmtJRJKFo

And like everyone else I wasn't aware he had passed and it was 10 years ago almost. Makes you wonder how something this good remained hidden to a lot of us for so long. his version of the song I mean. I was reading on Wikipedia that it was weight related respiratory illness contributing to his death. Yes he was a big'un! It never gave any reason for his weight, but it seemed his family was big'uns too, so partly genetic but I would imagine not the only factor as Mike said.Still he had a fabulous voice and his music was truly blessed

G

Barb said...

Just felt like coming back and having a listen after noticing on the feed that it had gotten a hit.

Just lovely.