“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” Played on a 1929 Theremin

Here in Amer­i­ca, we’re liv­ing in some anx­ious times. And frankly my nerves are a lit­tle torn and frayed–especially after the run-up to last night’s debate. Maybe some of you feel the same. Maybe you could stand to relax a bit. Maybe this will do the trick.

Above, watch Peter Pringle per­form on the theremin “Over the Rain­bow,” the song orig­i­nal­ly writ­ten for 1939’s The Wiz­ard of Oz. And it’s not just any theremin. It’s the 1929 RCA theremin that belonged to the Hol­ly­wood therem­i­nist, Dr. Samuel Hoff­man. In fact, it’s the very same one that Hoff­man played on The Tonight Show with John­ny Car­son in 1956, below.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

Watch Jim­my Page Rock the Theremin, the Ear­ly Sovi­et Elec­tron­ic Instru­ment, in Some Hyp­not­ic Live Per­for­mances

Sovi­et Inven­tor Léon Theremin Shows Off the Theremin, the Ear­ly Elec­tron­ic Instru­ment That Could Be Played With­out Being Touched (1954)

Sovi­et Inven­tor Léon Theremin Shows Off the Theremin, the Ear­ly Elec­tron­ic Instru­ment That Could Be Played With­out Being Touched (1954)