About This Quiz
Judy Garland. Just her name alone spells wonder, mystery, and expresses musicality, a reminder of the '30s and '40s fun.
To the early formations of the gay community, she has become such an idol that they identified much with her glamor and game. She is indeed a positive icon to a community besieged by negativity. And it's interesting to note that even her daughter, Liza Minnelli, also held - and still holds - that similar iconic statue in the LGBT community of today.
To those who unfortunately grew up during the time of the Second World War, Judy Garland's crisp songs surfaced as inspirational messages that reminded soldiers of a touch of home and introduced the world to wholesome touches of Americana culture. Everybody loved the girl next door who could sing like a pro.
Movie musical fans out there are also eyeing Ms. Judy Garland as an iconic performer who belted out tunes with her powerful vocal range while dancing and acting in movies with early Hollywood legends. In fact, she is a Hollywood legend herself, having appeared in very notable films that continue to inspire generations, such as "A Star is Born" and, of course, the timeless tale of "The Wizard of Oz."
Even though she was only here on earth for less than 50 years, her time was well spent for her creations and legacy will truly thrive beyond her lifetime. And the biggest legacy is her collection of songs.
Do you think you can sing along to these great tunes performed by Judy Garland? Take a look and see if you can hum and tap to them. Have fun!
The jazzy pop arrangement of “How About You” was first seen in the 1941 movie called “Babes on Broadway,” where Judy Garland sang this with co-star Mickey Rooney. Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin also recorded their own versions of this hit tune, as well as Bing Crosby and Shirley Bassey.
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Many of Judy Garland’s popular songs were first performed as part of scenes in her movies, like the song “On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.” This song came from the 1946 film called “The Harvey Girls” where “smaller” stars of that time like Angela Lansbury and Cyd Charisse also appeared, who, of course, also had great careers eventually.
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Judy Garland did her own recording of the jazz standard called “All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm” back in 1937. But this song was also featured in the popular film called “A Day at the Races” featuring the legendary Marx Brothers.
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Judy Garland recorded “Stompin’ at the Savoy” for Decca Records where she made many hit records from 1935 to 1947. She recorded this back in 1936, and the song was released as a successful upbeat single.
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“The Jitterbug” song was actually part of “The Wizard of Oz” film, but the actual sequence did not make it into the final cut of the legendary film. However, it was released as a B-side song to the record of “Over The Rainbow” released by Decca Records in 1939.
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The “Swanee” song was a composition by George Gershwin, as far back as 1919, but Judy Garland recorded it for her 1954 film “A Star is Born.” But it was Al Jolson who first recorded the song back in the 1920s when it became a big hit, then re-recorded it for his own films in the 1940s.
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The original version of “You Made Me Love You” was sung by Al Jolson in 1913, but it was later rewritten with some lyrics to fit it to a teenage Judy Garland for the 1937 film called “Broadway Melody of 1938.” Because of her performance of this song in the film, she was noticed more by movie executives, which led to her being cast in the legendary role of Dorothy later on – and the rest is history.
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The great Judy Garland appeared in the 1941 movie musical called “Ziegfeld Girl” where the song “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” was performed by her. She was also with other Hollywood greats in that MGM movie, such as Hedy Lamarr, James Stewart, Lana Turner, Jackie Cooper, and Eve Arden, to name a few.
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A very young Judy Garland sang the song “Zing! Went The Strings of My Heart” in the movie called “Listen, Darling” released in 1938 as a musical comedy. But the song was made in 1934 and originally appeared as part of the Broadway revue entitled “Thumbs Up!”
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The now popular Christmas staple called “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” was actually a new song introduced by Judy Garland in the movie “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She also recorded it as a single and was released as such under Decca Records.
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Judy Garland’s film version of “A Star is Born” also produced this song called “Lose That Long Face” where she performed it in a scene where she looked like a street person selling newspapers being filmed by a crew. She also has a tap dance number while singing this tune in that 1954 film, complete with some tapping on a street puddle a la “Singin’ in the Rain” style.
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The pretty Miss Garland sang “The Trolley Song” as a musical number scene from the movie musical called “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She starred in that 1944 movie directed by Vincente Minnelli, and they got married a year after that and had daughter Liza Minnelli later on.
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Did you know that the great Judy Garland also voiced an animated film, and even sang songs there to boot? That project is the 1961 movie called “Gay Purr-ee,” where this song called “Paris is a Lonely Town” came from.
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The song "Fascinating Rhythm” was recorded by Judy Garland and released in 1939. The song was penned by the great George and Ira Gershwin in 1924, which originally appeared in the Broadway musical called “Lady Be Good” featuring the fascinating brother-sister tandem of Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire.
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When it comes to Judy Garland’s discography, everybody and their mother knows that she made “Over The Rainbow” a classic hit, which came out of the film “The Wizard of Oz.” This 1939 classic won the Oscar award for Best Original Song, and her performance became as unforgettable as the film itself.
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The song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is actually part of the 1945 musical called “Carousel” by the great duo Rodgers and Hammerstein. Aside from Judy Garland’s hit recording of this song, other notable artists who also recorded this inspiring show tune include Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Doris Day, Roy Orbison, Andy Williams, and even Elvis Presley.
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This “Good Morning” song might be more familiar to musical movie fans out there as that lively number performed by Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds in the 1952 film “Singin’ in the Rain,” but Judy Garland actually sang this one first. She performed it with co-star Mickey Rooney in their 1939 movie called “Babes in Arms.”
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Originally written in 1928 by George Gershwin, the song “Embraceable You” was sung by Judy Garland in the 1943 film called “Girl Crazy” where she starred with Mickey Rooney. This popular jazz standard was also recorded by other musical greats throughout time, such as Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock, and Charlie Parker.
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Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote “That Old Black Magic” in 1942, and it was originally part of the movie called “Star Spangled Rhythm” where it earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Judy Garland recorded it as a single in 1943, and Marilyn Monroe also “sang” this song as part of a scene in her 1956 rom-com called “Bus Stop.”
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The song called “The Star of the East” is actually a Christmas carol dating back to the late 1800s. Judy Garland recorded it as a single back in 1941, which talks about the Bethlehem star that guides everyone in connection to the birth of Jesus Christ.
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Judy Garland could indeed go on singing on all platforms, be it onstage live, inside the recording studio to cut some records, and of course in the movies. This song was featured in the movie of the same name, “I Could Go on Singing,” released in 1963, which marked her last film role ever, about six years before she died.
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“Sweet Sixteen” was recorded by Judy Garland back in 1939 when she was about to conclude her own sweet 16 years and about to turn 17 years of age. In a recorded performance, Garland is also heard saying that this song is rather autobiographical, although it’s unclear which parts were and weren’t truthful.
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The song “Swing, Mr. Charlie” was recorded by Judy Garland back in 1936 and released as a record. The featured B-side song of that record was the equally danceable tune called “Stompin’ at the “Savoy.”
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The part-Irish Judy Garland sang “It’s a Great Day for the Irish” as part of the 1940 film called “Little Nellie Kelly.” This is the film version of the hit Broadway musical staged in the early 1920s.
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The classic movie musical film “Meet Me in St. Louis” produced many great songs attributed to Judy Garland, the star of that film. One of them is “The Boy Next Door,” which is sometimes re-gendered into “The Girl Next Door” when male singers would cover it later on. Other artists who covered the tune are Vic Damone, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Barbra Streisand.
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The song called “I’m Just Wild About Harry” was originally part of the 1921 Broadway show called “Shuffle Along,” which featured a predominantly African-American cast and writers to boot, a feat during that time in American show tunes history. Judy Garland’s version of it was performed in the 1939 movie version of “Babes in Arms” where she appeared with Mickey Rooney.
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The charming Judy Garland plays the piano while singing “For Me and My Gal” as the equally charming Gene Kelly listens in at first, then joins in a bit later, in a scene of their movie with the same title as the song. Busby Berkeley directed that 1942 musical about vaudeville performers and the two charming stars also perform a very nice tap dance number in the same scene.
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Songwriters Harry Warren and Leo Robin penned the song called “A Journey to a Star,” and this is not the only song of theirs that Judy Garland performed. But she recorded this one back in 1943 for Decca Records and it became a hit single for her.
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If you’ve seen the film “A Star is Born,” you’d know that this legendary number of “The Man That Got Away” was sung there by Judy Garland, making it one of her most memorable film performances ever. The George Cukor-directed movie musical came out in 1954, and still holds fans in awe today, despite the 1976 remake with Barbra Streisand, and the 2018 remake with Lady Gaga.
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The song called “Blues in the Night” is considered one of the canonical blues and later pop standard songs included in the so-called Great American Songbook. Penned by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, Judy Garland recorded this song in 1941 and was released as a single under Decca Records.
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“Skip to my Lou” is actually a children’s song popularized back in the 1800s, and it’s meant to be a playful dancing song. But Judy Garland sang this one as part of the movie musical “Meet Me in St. Louis” directed by her future hubby.
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Mickey Rooney plays the piano while singing “Our Love Affair” to a listening Judy Garland, who later joins in, in a scene of their 1940 black-and-white movie called “Strike Up The Band.” It was also directed by Busby Berkeley, one of the many movies he directed that paired up the teen-looking actor-singer duo in what was termed as backyard musicals.
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The song called “You Can’t Have Everything” was part of the Darryl F. Zanuck produced movie musical with the same title, released in 1937 and starring Don Ameche and Alice Faye. Judy Garland recorded this song as a single around that same time, but she wasn’t part of the film this time.
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“The Faraway Part of Town” is another Judy Garland song that came out of a movie, this time from the 1960 film called “Pepe.” The film had many musical cameos, and Garland made hers as the singing voice belting out this tune written by the then husband and wife duo of Dory Langdon and André Previn.
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The classic Cole Porter comedic composition “Be A Clown” was performed by Judy Garland with another legendary Hollywood great – Gene Kelly. They performed this song as part of the 1948 film called “The Pirate,” but they were wearing clown costumes while singing this, of course.
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