Rainbow High Lyrics – Evita

Detailed Annotations and Song Meaning

Highlights

• Instant engine: call-and-response “beauticians” create a percussive hook that feels visual.
• Harmony games: quick modulations heighten urgency as Eva escalates her demands.
• Character writing: rhyme-as-slogan turns political theater into literal theatre.
• Film-ready: the 1996 movie cuts it like a makeover montage, which suits the dramaturgy.

Creation History

The song debuted on the 1976 studio concept album with Julie Covington, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who also produced the subsequent 1978 London and 1979 Broadway cast recordings. LuPone’s version appears on the 1979 Premiere American Recording, released by MCA Records.

Elaine Paige introduced it on stage in London in 1978, LuPone led it on Broadway in 1979, and Madonna performed it on the 1996 film soundtrack.

In Rainbow High, the show-stopping number from Evita immortalized by Patti LuPone, the Lyrics whirl like sequins around Eva Perón as she readies herself for a glittering European tour. The scene is pure theatrical bravado: stylists buzz, flashbulbs pop, and Eva—newly ascendant, dazzlingly ambitious—demands a look that will blind both critics and crowds. What follows is an aria of image-crafting in which politics, fashion, and self-mythologizing fuse under Andrew Lloyd Webber’s propulsive score. Below, the annotations breathe anew in rich prose, illuminating each lyrical shard while keeping the pulse of the original work.

Overview

I don’t really think I need the reasons why I won’t succeed I haven’t started.

Eva opens with a firecracker’s confidence. She has not yet begun, yet she swats away doubt like confetti. The annotation reminds us that she now occupies real power—remarkable for an illegitimate, impoverished woman in 1940s Argentina—so any naysayer likely fears the destabilizing potential of a female icon who refuses to fail.

Character Dynamics

[BEAUTICIANS]

Those machine-gun lists—“Eyes! Hair! Mouth! Figure!”—signal the luxuriant circus now orbiting Eva. The repeated interjections contrast sharply with her earlier vows in Don’t Cry for Me Argentina; somewhere between balcony and boutique, she risks forgetting the barrio that birthed her glory.

I came from the people They need to adore me.

Born rural and illegitimate, Eva once spoke for the descamisados—the “shirtless ones.” Their faith vaulted her beyond the marble halls of a ruling class that eyed her as an interloper. The annotation stresses that her political oxygen comes from being their woman, an everyday Argentine whose ascent mocks patrician gatekeepers.

I’m their product It’s vital you sell me.

Here the rhetoric turns briskly capitalistic: Eva the commodity, spin doctors the sales force. The note uncovers an audacious admission—branding and politics have merged, and she is both billboard and beneficiary.

And I’m not a second rate queen getting kicks with a crown!

This defiant swipe targets whisper campaigns that she merely rode Juan Perón’s coattails. The annotation nods to outside accusations of nepotism and even fascist sympathy, underscoring Eva’s need to prove she is sovereign in her own right, not a prop with pearls.

Thematic Elements

So Christian Dior me.

With six brisk words she beckons the crowned prince of Paris couture. As the annotation notes, Dior’s tailleur suits—restrained, sculpted—replaced her earlier, sensuous silhouettes, allowing Eva to cloak populism in aristocratic polish. Image is armor; Dior stitches the plating.

Machiavell—me.

By conjuring Niccolò Machiavelli, “father of modern political theory,” Eva winks at the ruthless pragmatism behind her pastel gloves. The lyric compresses five centuries of statecraft into a single sly syllable, a reminder that benevolence and manipulation frequently share a mirror.

All my descamisados expect me to outshine the enemy The aristocracy.

The annotation teases out a double turn: Eva must defeat elite detractors yet simultaneously dazzle them. Outshining is both triumphant and seductive, a velvet coup dressed in satin.

Historical References

Lauren Bacall me.

By invoking the smoldering 1940s screen siren, the lyric borrows Hollywood charisma. The annotation flags Bacall’s celebrated sex appeal; Eva craves that slow-burn glamour to complement Dior’s disciplined lines.

Anything goes.

A playful prophecy: LuPone would headline the 1987 Broadway revival of Anything Goes. The off-hand aside plants a meta seed—life imitating Lyrics imitating life.

The Rainbow’s gonna tour.

Historically, the “Rainbow Tour” of 1947–48 sent Eva across Spain, France, Italy, and beyond on a goodwill spree. The annotation positions the entire song as rehearsal, the dressing-room overture to a continental spectacle.

Musical Techniques

Just a little touch of Just a little touch of Argentina’s brand of star quality!

These closing bars echo the earlier number Buenos Aires, but the mood has flipped. Back then she sought a stage; now she owns it, ready to export Argentine star quality like a new commodity on the world market. The reprise ties Eva’s journey into a neat musical bow, underscoring the thematic arc that Rainbow High completes within the Evita score.

Context Cards

Each annotation thus refracts the Lyrics through lenses of class struggle, fashion politics, and pop-theatrical flair. Together they color a portrait of Eva Perón—part saint, part strategist—forever climbing ever higher on her shimmering Rainbow, hungry for the next audience and the next spotlight.

Key Facts

• Artist: Patti LuPone & Original Broadway Cast of Evita
• Featured: Dressers/Beauticians ensemble as onstage chorus
• Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Lyricist: Tim Rice
• Producer: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice (1976 concept, 1978 London, 1979 Broadway recordings)
• Release Date: 1979 (Premiere American Recording)
• Label: MCA Records
• Album: Evita (Original Cast Recording), track 13
• Language: English
• Genre: Musical theatre, orchestral pop
• Instruments: orchestra, rhythm section, pit percussion
• Music style: patter-inflected march with modulating fanfares
• © Copyrights: © 1979 MCA Records; musical © Evita Music Ltd.

Questions and Answers

Who first released “Rainbow High” on record?

Julie Covington on the 1976 studio concept album of Evita.

Is “Rainbow High” a standalone hit single?

Not on its own, but it appeared as the B-side to Julie Covington’s UK chart-topping “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”

Where does it sit in the show?

Act II, as Eva prepares for her European goodwill blitz, immediately preceding “Rainbow Tour.”

Who sings it in the film?

Madonna, on the 1996 motion picture soundtrack.

Any notable new versions?

Rachel Zegler recorded a 2025 single tied to Jamie Lloyd’s London revival.

Additional Info

• Discography thread: Covington’s 1976 concept cut, Paige’s 1978 London cast version, LuPone’s 1979 Premiere American Recording on MCA, Madonna’s 1996 film version, and a 2025 single by Rachel Zegler map the song’s major recorded life.
• Language adaptations: Brazilian productions perform it as “Arco-Íris.” Recent stagings and concerts by Myra Ruiz keep the number in circulation.
• Album context: The 1979 Premiere American Recording - Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Gunton - was issued by MCA Records.