Songful Style: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Welcome to September’s edition of Songful Style! Hosted by myself, Shelbee (Shelbee on the Edge) and Marsha (Marsha in the Middle) Songful Style is a collaboration featuring outfits inspired by songs. We’re also inviting anyone who would like to join us, to post their own outfits in the link-up below. It doesn’t matter from what angle the song inspires the outfit, it can be from the lyrics, the title, the tune itself, the album cover, music video, etc. Last month our song was Mama by Beth Hart and was chosen by Shelbee. This month, our Songful Style song was chosen by Marsha and is one of my absolute all time favourite songs ever…Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow is one of those songs that just gets me. Every. Single. Time. I adore it. I even remember singing it alone, on the rooftop terrace when I was ten years old, dreaming of being discovered by a talent scout and becoming a worldwide pop sensation. Isn’t it it funny, the little things we remember of our childhood? The funniest thing about this is that I could never really sing very well. My oldest friend, Emma, is actually a professional singer and whenever she heard me open my mouth and try and sing a tune alongside her, she used to say to me, “Suzy…don’t sing.” I’ll never forget that lol! Michael assures me these days that I’m actually not that bad, which is good considering I’m always at it lol. Whenever we’re out driving and a song comes on that I like, I’m singing fairly loud lol!!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow Lyrics

Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dream of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dream of
Dreams really do come true
Someday, I wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top
That’s where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dare to
Oh why, oh why can’t I?
Well, I see trees of green and red roses too
I’ll watch them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Well, I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white
And the brightness of day
I like the dark
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
And also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands saying
How do you do?
They’re really saying I, I love you
I hear babies cry and I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more then we’ll know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
World
Someday I wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top
That’s where you’ll find me
Oh, somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dare to
Why oh, why can’t I?
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh

My favourite version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow is actually the one sung by Judy Garland in that old, gorgeous classic film, Wizard of Oz (see below). But Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s version comes a very close second. It’s such a beautiful song, and he just had what it took to make it even more impressive. It’s so incredibly sad that a man with such enormous talent passed away at such a young age, just as he was starting to see real success in his career. He was only 38 years old, and died of respiratory failure. But he left us with the most beautiful music to remember him by.

This song could so easily have been a song chosen by me, so I was delighted when Marsha chose it. I knew immediately I wouldn’t have to look at any of the videos or album covers, because I wanted to style something related to rainbows…

And that’s where this dress comes in. I hadn’t actually decided what I was going to wear and then when I opened my wardrobe, this dress sung to me! It was clearly the perfect dress for this Songful Style challenge, in all its colourful gorgeousness. I decided to style it in a slightly boho fashion, wearing my tan Timberland sandals, my tan fringed handbag and a selection of jewellery that I recently inherited. The jewellery is a bit of a mishmash and doesn’t really go well together, but once I had it all on, I loved the way it looked.

We took these pictures in the most glorious location in Praia da Rocha, on the grounds of a really old house belonging to a new friend of ours. It’s a really old house very close to the sea. I wanted to take pictures near the ocean, but because we were so late arriving, the sun was way too bright, so we settled for shady spots in the garden instead. My friend, Natasha, kindly took the photos while the boys talked cars lol.

Did you take part in this month’s Songful Style challenge? I’d love to see how you styled Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Please link up all your fabulous posts below. I hope you’ll join us next month because I chose a fun song by Taylor Swift. I was actually wanting to choose a song with a Halloween twist—and this one popped up. If you watch the video, you’ll see what I mean. But while I was watching, I realised this song video is AWESOME for style prompts, because there are loads!! I can’t wait to see how everyone styles it. The song is called Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift.