The song was originally recorded in a spur-of-the-moment
demo session in 1988. Israel called the recording studio at 3 A.M., and was given a 15-minute deadline to arrive by recording engineer Milan Bertosa. Bertosa recalled, "Israel was probably like 500 pounds. And the first thing at hand is to find something for him to sit on." The building security found Israel a large steel chair. "Then I put up some microphones, do a quick sound check, roll tape, and the first thing he does is 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' He played and sang, one take, and it was over." At the time, copies of the acoustic recording were made only for Kamakawiwoʻole himself and Bertosa. In 1993, five years after the original recording, Bertosa played the acoustic version for producer Jon de Mello while the two were completing work on
Facing Future, and de Mello decided to include it on the album as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World". "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" reached number 12 on
Billboard's
Hot Digital Tracks chart the week of January 31, 2004 (for the survey week ending January 18, 2004). ==Impact in popular culture==