Back when he had a Desk Job, Butler automatically began the day by turning on “The Today Show,” the better to know what his colleagues would be talking about in the Morning Meeting. And, more mornings than not, Butler would be distracted by a TV commercial. Maybe you remember it: a boy chasing fireflies…his father looking out the window….wise and loving Dad ordering a firefly-catching kit from some online toy store, now defunct.
Butler loved that commercial. Not because of the sentimentality. Because of the background music --- someone playing a 4-string ukulele and humming.
It was the oddest thing. Every time this commercial came on, Butler would get....misty. Without a word, the music generated pictures of home and love and security --- images of a world in which everything works.
Butler mentioned this commercial to others. They also had noticed the music and had been moved by it. But no one knew who the singer was.
Then Butler encountered the Sean Connery film, "Finding Forrester.” And, over the closing credits, along came this song. Its title announced a bonus, two songs in one: "Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World." The singer: a Hawaiian named Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, who, as a quick Web search revealed, died in 1997 at the age of 38.
Who was the man known as "Braddah Iz?"
A big man. A very big man. “I was small once -- when I was a baby,” he once said. But as a 6'2" adult, his weight ballooned. When he hit 757 pounds, it was clear that his health was in danger, so he resolved to lose 360 pounds. Iz got down to 640 pounds --- but he couldn't shed more.
So when he left Hawaii to perform, a forklift was needed to get him onto airplanes. He traveled shorter distances on a golf cart. At concerts, he needed an oxygen tank.
His recording schedule was also unique. He had a very short attention span and hated the process of re-recording. His producer's response: start the machines when Iz entered the studio, turn them off when he left.
”Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World” came from a session like that. Iz called his producer and said there was a song he had to record. He showed up at the studio at midnight with his ukulele -- and, in 5 minutes, created his biggest hit.
In 1996, National Public Radio “Over the Rainbow.” Listeners called in; sales shot up. And music insiders like Jimmy Buffett, Paul Simon and Bette Midler were no longer alone in their admiration for Iz.
The following year, when Iz died, it was clear that he was the Bob Marley of Hawaii . His casket lay in state at the Capitol, and 10,000 fans came to say goodbye. The next day, friends paddled a double-hulled voyaging canoe into Makua Bay, where Iz and his friends had camped out and played music over the years. It was in this bay, in l982, that Iz had poured the ashes of his brother Skippy, who had died of a heart attack; now the brothers would be united.
There was thunderous cheering as Iz's ashes were poured into the water. It continued for an hour. To be with Iz one last time, family members and friends ran into the ocean. And the music continued into the night.
There are other songs to admire on this CD, other reasons to cherish that tender voice. But ”Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World” is the reason to buy this CD --- and to play it when what you need most in the world is a loving arm around your shoulder.
---- Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com
To order “Facing Future” from Amazon.com, click here.
