It's crazy how "If You Want the Rainbow" by Lee Morse is a better song for OFF's ending than the original release's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Like, it works better thematically. It's pretty directly about taking the good with the bad and preserving a sense of optimism about life, despite its many hardships. That's a hell of a message to put at the end of a game where the protagonist nihilistically believes the world is hopelessly broken and, quite LITERALLY, throws the baby out with the bathwater, putting an end to rain and rainbows both. Now it's almost as though the game itself laments his folly only after the deed is done. Perfect for a tragedy.
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is very good, yes, but I imagine that it may have only been included in the game's original release for its melancholic tone and cultural significance. "If You Want the Rainbow" loses the latter, sure, but in art, references to other works without strong thematic relevance to the work doing the referencing are empty and sort of worthless. At least when compared to a reference that has a stronger thematic relevance. Also it makes me sob like an infant.
What does it matter if rain comes your way? / And raindrops patter all day? The rain descending, should not make you blue / The happy ending, is waiting for you
