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Somewhere Over the Rainbow follows an A A B A form. This is a double-time version, thus the sections are sixteen bars long. I use the key of B major for the melody in this reharm. The key of B was chosen to maintain the original Giant Steps B - Eb - G tonal centers. Nothing much has to change in the melody, rather it needs to be played in the Giant Steps style of straight quarter-notes and half-notes. If the B natural on the F#7 chord in the A section (measure eleven) is unsettling, you can insert a quick (quarter-note long) C#-7 on beat three to smooth it out. A similar solution will smooth the dissonance in bar eight of the B section between the F# note and the Abmaj7 chord, as follows: Ab7 can be applied on the last beat with the F#, or used to replace the Abmaj7 which begins on beat three. The melody from the beginning of Giant Steps fits the change in bars seven and eight of the B section, transposed so it starts on the note D. (Descending - D, Bb, G, Eb.) You can run the minor descending line-cliche root-major seventh-seventh-sixth in the B section where the C#-7 and F#7 both last for a bar (measures nine and ten of the B section).

There is an intro and a coda. (It's the "...if happy little bluebirds fly..." line at the end of the tune.) I usually kick three-(four)-and underneath the Cmaj7 in bar seven of the intro. The coda is the intro, with a ritard and a fine on bar seven. The rhythm is a fast bop walking four, somewhere around mm 156 - 184. Here are my changes:

I have used double bar-lines at the center of the sections, the eight || nine measure break point. Because the first and second halves of the A section are the same, it gets easy to loose track of section repeats during solos. Designating each half of the A section as its own section and doubling the count on sections (AA AA B AA) is an option for keeping this straight.

During the solo section, I omit altered and augmented tensions, and play the changes as straight II - V - I changes. Have fun!

Performance notes:

This recording was done in 1991, at the same time as the Cat's A Bear 2liveCATS album, when Cat's A Bear was an electronic duo. Frank Singer played guitar, and did the sequencing of parts. Joe Dorris played drums and the Wizard of Oz samples, which were available on drum pads for live performance. All other tracks were sequenced. This version of Cat's A Bear did live performance as a duo for almost a decade.  [ top ]