Sandy Hook students record benefit song
Posted January 16, 2013 8:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
In the aftermath of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., students from the town have joined with indie pop singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson to record a version of Over the Rainbow.
The proceeds from sales of the song will benefit the Newtown Youth Academy and United Way of Western Connecticut.
The recording was produced by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads fame and later, the Tom Tom Club. The single was recorded at the couple’s studio at their home in Connecticut. Tim Hayes of the re-opened punk/rock mainstay nightclub CBGB, came up with the idea.
Michaelson begins the song as a solo with a single ukulele accompaniment, and is then joined by the students.
The song Over the Rainbow was written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, and was sung by Judy Garland in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.
On Dec. 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle and other firearms, fired hundreds of rounds of amunition at school children, staff and teachers, killing 26 people before fatally wounding himself.
The incident has re-ignited the debate over gun violence and gun control in the United States.
Students and teachers of Sandy Hook Elementary returned to school on Jan. 2 to a different building in a neighboring town for the first time since the shooting.
