Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club have contributed to a charity recording of Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Ingrid Michaelson and 21 current or former students of the Sandy Hook Elementary School, site of the December mass shooting where 26 people were killed.
Sandy Hook Rainbow
Frantz and Weymouth contributed the use of their home studio for the recording of the single, which is available now. Frantz said “My hope is that the kids from Sandy Hook school have a hit record and I think they have a pretty good chance.”
Executive producer Tim Haynes added “Music has the power to heal both the listener and the performers. The children were asked to sing the song as if it was a prayer. That emotion really comes though when the children sing their ‘oooos,’ which transforms the recording into something truly spiritual.”
Michaelson, who is known for such hits as The Way I Am and Be OK, played ukulele and sang on the track in an arrangement made famous by late-Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. She said “To be able to honour those who lost their lives is something I am incredibly humbled by.”
The track is available on most digital outlets with proceeds going to the Newtown Youth Academy and the United Way of Western Connecticut.
