Harburg, Edgar ‘Yip’ (1896–1981)

US librettist and lyricist. He collaborated with several composers but enjoyed his greatest success with Harold Arlen, with whom he wrote many standards for film and stage musicals including ‘Over the Rainbow’ (1939). In 1947 he was blacklisted in Hollywood for left-wing sentiments, and he returned to Broadway, writing lyrics for several musicals, the most successful being Finian's Rainbow. He continued to work in theatre until 1977 and was killed in a car crash just before he was to be honoured with a television tribute and receive an award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Harburg was born in New York City. Showing an early talent for acting and writing, he attended a high school for gifted students where he met Ira Gershwin. Together they went to the City College of New York where they collaborated on a column for the college newspaper. Harburg contributed light verse to the newspapers, but it was hearing Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore that made him want to be a lyricist. Needing to support himself, he worked for a business that took him to South America 1918–21. He returned to start an electrical appliance business and had his first lyrics performed on Broadway in 1926. The stock market crash of 1929 forced him to take up writing full time and in the ensuing years he wrote a number of songs, including ‘Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?’ (1932).