Every classic tune carries a tale, and today we’re unveiling 10 surprising stories that sit behind some of the most famous songs ever recorded. From studio battles to lyrical rewrites, each account shows how a simple melody can become a cultural milestone.
10 Surprising Stories Unveiled
10 Over the Rainbow
MGM initially wanted to excise “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz (1939) because executives feared the Kansas scenes were already lengthy and the song’s deeper themes might confuse a child audience. They also objected to Judy Garland crooning in a barnyard setting. It was associate producer Arthur Freed who, after a tense showdown with studio chief Louis B. Mayer, warned, “The song stays—or I go.” Mayer, reluctantly, replied, “Let the boys have the damn song. Put it back in the picture. It can’t hurt.”
The tune first sparked for composer Harold Arlen during a drive down Sunset Boulevard. When Arlen and lyricist E.Y. Harburg hit a roadblock on the ending line, Ira Gershwin tossed them the suggestion, “Why, oh, why can’t I?” Gershwin later joked that the question was born from a long evening he’d spent thinking about the song.
“Over the Rainbow” earned an Academy Award for Best Original Song, became Judy Garland’s signature piece, topped the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest American Movie Music, and was voted Song of the Century by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2000.
9 As Time Goes By
Although “As Time Goes By” enjoys a #2 spot on AFI’s movie‑music ranking, it almost vanished during production. Originally penned by Herman Hupfeld for a 1931 Broadway play, the song resurfaced in the anti‑Nazi drama Everybody Comes to Rick’s (1940). After Pearl Harbor, Warner Bros. purchased the rights for the film Casablanca (1942).
Composer Max Steiner petitioned to replace the tune with his own royalty‑generating piece, but producer Hal Wallis blocked the change because the iconic “Play it, Sam” scene could not be reshot—Ingrid Bergman was away and had cut her hair short for a forthcoming movie, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943).
Dooley Wilson performed the vocal part while faking Sam’s piano playing to match Jean‑Vincent Plummer’s off‑camera performance. A musicians’ strike prevented Wilson from laying down a proper recording in time, prompting the studio to re‑issue Rudy Vallee’s 1931 version, which became a hit. Steiner’s score earned an Oscar nomination, yet the song itself was ineligible because it was not composed expressly for the screen.
8 White Christmas
While “White Christmas” struck a chord with WWII soldiers and their families, its own origin is deeply personal. In December 1937, Irving Berlin was scoring films for 20th Century Fox in Hollywood, while his Catholic wife remained in New York. Their separation during the holidays was painful, especially since Berlin could not accompany her to visit the grave of their infant son, who had died on Christmas Day in 1928.
Channeling this grief, Berlin crafted a secular holiday anthem that resonated with anyone yearning for “merry and bright” days. Bing Crosby first introduced the song on the Kraft Music Hall radio broadcast on December 25, 1941. The tune became the centerpiece of the movie Holiday Inn (1942) and later inspired the 1954 film White Christmas.
7 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” showcases the power of revision. For MGM’s musical Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), songwriting duo Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane struggled to create a comforting piece for Judy Garland’s character. Martin admits he “played with it for two or three days and then threw it in the wastebasket.” Blane later rescued the melody, remarking, “Thank the Lord we found it.”
The original lyrics were bleak: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas. It may be your last. Next year, we may all be living in the past.” Garland protested, fearing the line would cause her younger co‑star, Margaret O’Brien, to cry and label her a monster. The rewritten version struck a balance between wistfulness and hope, making it suitable for the film.
Garland’s recording became a hit, and the song has been covered repeatedly, notably by Frank Sinatra in 1947. A decade later, Sinatra asked the composers to “jolly up” the lyrics for his album A Jolly Christmas, swapping the somber line “From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow” for the brighter “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.”
6 Moon River
Henry Mancini composed the wistful ballad for Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) with Audrey Hepburn’s limited vocal range in mind. The simple, one‑octave melody was originally titled “Blue River” until lyricist Johnny Mercer recalled a prior song of that name. To preserve the rhythmic flow, Mercer swapped “blue” for “moon,” both one‑syllable words with identical vowel sounds.
After a preview screening, a Paramount executive allegedly exclaimed, “I love the picture, fellas, but the f***ing song has to go.” Hepburn retorted, “Over my dead body!” The song survived, won an Oscar, and today ranks #4 on the AFI list. Of the countless covers, Mancini still favors Hepburn’s original rendition.
5 Theme from Star Trek
In 1953, Gene Roddenberry left his Los Angeles Police Department job to freelance as a TV writer, eventually creating Star Trek (1966–1969). He also penned lyrics for the series’ instrumental theme—lyrics never intended for public singing.
Seven weeks after composer Alexander Courage submitted an instrumental version to the Library of Congress, Roddenberry added handwritten, sentimental lyrics beneath the notes. By exploiting a clause buried in Courage’s contract, Roddenberry secured 50% of the royalties whenever the theme was used, even as an instrumental. Outraged at having his earnings halved, Courage refused to work on the show again while Roddenberry remained executive producer.
Roddenberry later admitted in Inside Star Trek that he thought, “I have to get money somewhere. I’m sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek.” He could not have foreseen the franchise’s enduring legacy, with the theme generating royalties for generations through syndication and films.
4 People
Composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill wrote over fifty songs while developing a Broadway musical about comedian Fanny Brice, initially titled A Very Special Person. Their first attempt at a title track morphed into “People,” and the show eventually became Funny Girl. Styne championed the relatively unknown Barbra Streisand for the lead, despite producers favoring a bigger name. Looking back in 1977, Styne explained, “I wondered how I was going to get this little girl who was singing down in the Village in the show when they already had Anne Bancroft. So I wrote the toughest score. Only Barbra could sing it.”
During out‑of‑town tryouts, director Garson Kanin thought “People” didn’t fit the character or moment and wanted it cut. Columbia’s decision to release the song as a promotional single in January 1964 gave Streisand her first Top 40 hit. Before Funny Girl opened on Broadway two months later, many songs and directors came and went, but “People” endured and became a show‑stopper.
3 Sympathy for the Devil
The Rolling Stones’ 1968 album Beggars Banquet opens with “Sympathy for the Devil,” a scorching catalog of humanity’s darkest deeds. Mick Jagger authored both lyrics and music, drawing inspiration from a Soviet‑era satirical novel and the turbulent 1960s. He later explained in the music video that he had to decide whether the piece should feel like a samba or a “goddam folk song.” Over thirty takes, the tempo accelerated, African percussion was layered, and Keith Richards introduced a driving rhythm.
During the summer 1968 recording sessions, Jagger’s original lyric referenced a single assassination: “I shouted out, ‘Who killed Kennedy?’” After Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination on June 6, Jagger amplified the song’s impact by changing “Kennedy” to the plural “Kennedys.”
The “Kennedys” verse has been omitted in various performances, including a 2006 benefit concert for Bill Clinton’s 60th birthday, captured in Martin Scorsese’s documentary Shine a Light (2008). When asked about the omission, Jagger replied coyly, “Did I leave that out? That song is so long, I always cut a verse. I guess it must’ve been that one.” The verse was also missing during the Stones’ 2024 tour.
2 Raindrops Keep Fallin on My Head
When director George Roy Hill wanted a contemporary sound for his off‑beat western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), he turned to the pop duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David, famous for hits like “Walk on By,” “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” and “The Look of Love.” Hill used the film’s bicycle scene as a reference, noting he had edited it to Simon and Garfunkel’s breezy “The Fifty‑Ninth Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy).” Bacharach contributed the melody and title, later recalling, “Even though Hal tried to change it, we never came up with anything that felt as good.”
After Ray Stevens, known for comedy songs, declined the project due to a scheduling conflict, the tune was offered to another client of Stevens’ agent, B.J. Thomas. When the soundtrack was being cut, Thomas was battling laryngitis and struggled through five takes. Bacharach praised Thomas’s raspy voice as “authentic,” yet studio executives deemed the track “too risky and unconventional.”
Two weeks later, fully recovered, Thomas recorded the song for release. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, and Bacharach and David earned an Oscar for Best Original Song.
1 Theme from M*A*S*H
For his dark comedy M*A*S*H (1970), director Robert Altman demanded a background song for the faux‑suicide scene of despondent dentist “Painless” Waldowski, insisting it be called “Suicide Is Painless” and dubbing it the “stupidest song ever written.” Composer Johnny Mandel recounted that when he ran out of ideas, Altman said, “All is not lost. I’ve got a fifteen‑year‑old kid who’s a total idiot.” Young Mike Altman quickly drafted four verses and a chorus, which Mandel set to music.
Altman loved the melody so much that he also used it over the film’s opening credits, and the instrumental version later became the theme for the long‑running TV series. The song reached #1 on the UK singles chart and has been covered by a wide range of artists, from Marilyn Manson to the late jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. During a 1981 appearance on The Tonight Show, senior Altman told Johnny Carson he had been paid $70,000 to direct the film, yet his son had earned over a million dollars from his share of the music royalties.