On June 29, 2026 art the funeral service for legendary music producer Clive Davis at Manhattan Central Synagogue in New York City, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl told the audience that she learned from Davis's children that the song their father most admired that he had no hand in producing or promoting was the Yip … Continue Reading ››
Category Archives: Web Content
“Over the Rainbow” at City Hall
On January 1, 2026 singer/actor Mandy Patinkin, with students from the Public School 22 Chorus, sang the Yip Harburg-Harold Arlen classic "Over the Rainbow" at the inauguration ceremony for Zohran Mamdani, newly elected Mayor of New York City. The Chorus also sang the song at the close of the 83rd … Continue Reading ››
“Oz” manuscripts added to Library of Congress
On August 25, 2025 the Library of Congress announced the acquisition of “rare music and lyric sketches from composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg, who collaborated on the song score to the iconic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.” They are now part of the Library’s Harold Arlen Collection. The … Continue Reading ››
Billy Ray Cyrus & Friends perform “Over the Rainbow”
Billy Ray Cyrus, along with guitarist-singer Micki Free and producer-singer-composer Buck 22 released a new recording of the Yip Harburg-Harold Arlen classic "Over the Rainbow" on June 27, 2025. Proceeds will go to the National Museum of African-American Music.
More Than Santa Baby
Composer Philip Springer who wrote several songs with Yip, mostly in the 1970's during Yip's final decade, is the subject of a new documentary, More Than Santa Baby. The film, by Tamar Springer, the composer's daughter, won the Documentary Short Audience Award at the 28th Annual Dances With Films Festival in June 2025 … Continue Reading ››
Ari Axelrod Sings Little-Known Yip Lyrics
Ari Axelrod’s CD, A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway, released Jan. 17 2025 by PS Classics, features a medley of two seldom performed lyrics by Yip: “Adrift on a Star” (from the 1961 Broadway musical The Happiest Girl in the World and set to the music of … Continue Reading ››
IRA GERSHWIN: A LIFE IN WORDS
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 ››
“OZ” TURNS 85
Radio host Bill Rudman’s 2014 interview with Ernie Harburg, “Oz Turns 75,” retitled “Oz Turns 85,” is being rebroadcast on PRX as of July 15, 2024. Bill Rudman’s Footlight Parade: Sounds of the American Musical is a weekly radio program showcasing the best of Broadway and Hollywood – songs from the turn … Continue Reading ››
EARL ROBINSON SINGING “FREE AND EQUAL BLUES” IN 1980’S
On July 6, 2024 The Daily Kos featured an article about the Yip Harburg-Earl Robinson civil rights-themed song, “Free and Equal Blues,” written during World War Two as a protest against the racial segregation of blood supplies by the United States Armed Forces. The song is heard via a YouTube link as performed by Robinson in … Continue Reading ››
BETTE MIDLER’S “IF I ONLY HAD A HEART” PARODY
On July 2, 2024 singer and actress Bette Midler posted a parody of the lyric of the Yip Harburg-Harold Arlen classic "If I Only Had a Heart" from The Wizard of Oz to express her opinion of various Supreme Court judges.