What song from the 1939 film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

The song from the 1939 film that won the Academy Award for Best Original Song was “Over the Rainbow.”

Judy Garland sings the ballad as Dorothy Gale in the Kansas section of The Wizard of Oz, shortly before the tornado carries her to Oz. Its longing for a distant, more colorful place establishes Dorothy's emotional reason for wanting to escape Kansas and gives the fantasy adventure a musical introduction rooted in her homesickness.

Harold Arlen composed the music and Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics. The song was nearly removed from the film because MGM executives considered it too sophisticated and too melancholy for the early Kansas scenes. It survived editing and became Garland's signature performance.

At the 12th Academy Awards ceremony, held in 1940, it won Best Original Song. A common mix-up is confusing it with “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” another well-known Oz number; that song was popular but was not the Oscar winner.