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Harold Arlen

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Harold Arlen, born Hyman Arluck, was an American composer of popular music. He was born on 15 February 1905 in Buffalo, New York, the son of a Jewish cantor, and died on 23 April 1986. He learned to play the piano, formed a small band at fifteen and left home as a teenager. In the early 1920s he moved to New York, worked as an accompanist in vaudeville and took the name Harold Arlen.

Music and breakthrough

His first well-known song was Get Happy from 1929, with lyrics by Ted Koehler. With Koehler he wrote shows for the Cotton Club in Harlem, and from that partnership came standards such as Let's Fall in Love and Stormy Weather. In the mid-1930s he worked increasingly in Hollywood, where he found E. Y. Harburg as a lyricist. Together they wrote the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, including Over the Rainbow, for which they won an Oscar for best original song. He also wrote Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe for the film Cabin in the Sky.

Influence

Arlen wrote more than five hundred songs and is counted among the Great American Songbook. His melodies lean on blues and jazz, which links the American theatre song with the Black music of his day. Over the Rainbow was named the song of the twentieth century by the RIAA and the NEA.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Over the Rainbow in the film version of The Wizard of Oz. Notice the big leap in the opening melody, and how that leap makes the longing in the lyrics audible.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists