Lyricist Ira Gershwin, Yip's friend since their high school days together beginning in 1910, is now the subject of the first-ever biography devoted to Ira's life, Ira Gershwin: A Life in Words. Author Michael Owen, using archival sources including Ira's own words, creates a rich portrait of the lesser-known brother … Continue Reading ››
Category Archives: Print
HAROLD ARLEN AND HIS SONGS
Coming from Oxford University Press on July 26, 2024, Harold Arlen and His Songs by Walter Frisch is the first comprehensive book about the music of one of the great song composers of the twentieth century. Arlen was Yip Harburg’s most frequent composer-collaborator (they wrote over 150 songs together from 1932 to … Continue Reading ››
THE LAST LEGACY OF E.Y. “YIP” HARBURG
Phil Springer, composer of "Santa Baby," with his daughter, Tamir, released a CD/DVD collection of the songs he wrote with Yip Harburg, entitled the Last Legacy of E.Y. "Yip" Harburg. He spoke with journalist Sarah Pilla, and on Oct. 15, 2020 the Palisadian-Post published an Continue Reading ››
ADAPTING “THE WIZARD OF OZ”
In Adapting The Wizard of Oz: Musical Versions from Baum to MGM and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 2018), editors Danielle Birkett and Dominic McHugh bring together insights from eleven experts into the varied musical forms this great American myth has taken in the past century. Includes chapters on … Continue Reading ››
Arlen and Harburg’s “Over the Rainbow”
In Arlen and Harburg's "Over the Rainbow" (Oxford University Press, 2017) Walter Frisch traces the history of the song "Over the Rainbow" from its inception during the development of The Wizard of Oz's screenplay to its various reinterpretations over the course of the ensuing decades. Through analysis of the song's music and lyrics, … Continue Reading ››
The Man That Got Away: The Life & Songs of Harold Arlen
Walter Rimler's biography of Harold Arlen, The Man That Got Away: The Life and Songs of Harold Arlen, was published by University of Illinois Press in August 2015. The book contains extensive material about Yip Harburg, who, over a span of nearly fifty years, wrote more than 100 songs with Arlen , including … Continue Reading ››
Over the Rainbow: The Life and Rhymes of Yip Harburg
Over the Rainbow: The Life and Rhymes of Yip Harburg by Stuart Stotts was released in paperback in September 2015 by Big Valley Press. It is also available as a Kindle book.
The Algonguin Kid
Michael Elihu Colby. The Algonquin Kid: Adventures Growing Up at New York's Legendary Hotel. Reminiscences of encounters with celebrities, including Yip, by the grandson of Ben and Mary Bodne, who owned the hotel from 1946 to 1987. BearManor Media, 2015.
The Yip Harburg Songbook
The Yip Harburg Songbook. Piano/vocal sheets to 34 songs including "Over the Rainbow," "It's Only a Paper Moon," "April in Paris," "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady," "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" "Old Devil Moon," and an illustrated introductory essay by Stephen Holden. Hal Leonard Publishers, 2009.
Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?
Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz? Yip Harburg, Lyricist. by Harold Meyerson and Ernie Harburg. 454 pages, black-and-white and color illustrations. University of Michigan Press, 1993. Paperback edition, 1995.