You know the feeling. You're walking down a hallway, or maybe just pacing your kitchen, and suddenly you're humming about a yellow brick road. It’s unavoidable. The songs from Wizard of Oz lyrics aren’t just movie tunes; they are basically part of our collective DNA at this point.
When E.Y. "Yip" Harburg sat down to write these words, he wasn't just trying to rhyme "rainbow" with "bluebird." He was building a world. Honestly, it’s kinda wild how many people know every single word to "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" but can’t remember their own Wi-Fi password. There is a specific magic in the way these lyrics were constructed—a mix of sophisticated wordplay and raw, emotional simplicity that modern musicals often struggle to replicate.
The Rainbow That Almost Wasn't
Let’s talk about "Over the Rainbow." It’s arguably the most famous song in cinematic history. But did you know MGM executives almost cut it from the film? They thought it slowed down the pace. Can you imagine? Taking the soul out of the movie because of a 1939 version of "attention span issues."
The lyrics are deceptive. On the surface, it’s a song about a girl wanting to go somewhere else. But look closer at Harburg's choices. He uses "beyond the rain" and "skies are blue" to contrast the sepia-toned reality of Kansas. The phrase "where troubles melt like lemon drops" is such a specific, tactile image. It’s not just "troubles go away." They melt. They are sugary. It’s a child’s view of peace.
Harold Arlen, the composer, wrote a melody that leaps an entire octave in the first two notes ("Some-where"). That’s a huge jump. It mirrors the physical leap Dorothy wants to take from her farm to the sky. Most people sing it in the shower and miss that technical nuance, but the lyrics ground that soaring melody in a very human, very relatable ache for something better.
The Psychological Weirdness of the Scarecrow’s Lyrics
"If I Only Had a Brain" is basically a masterclass in internal rhyme. Harburg was a socialist and a satirist, and he snuck some pretty clever stuff into what people think is just a "kids' song."
"I would not be just a nuffin' / My head all full of stuffin' / My heart all full of pain."
Wait, what? Pain? In a song about a guy made of straw?
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The lyrics across all three "If I Only Had..." variations—Brain, Heart, Nerve—follow a rigid structural pattern, but the content shifts dramatically. The Scarecrow’s lyrics are the most intellectual, ironically. He talks about "unraveling every riddle" and "the thoughts I'd be thinkin' could be another Lincoln." It’s a bit of a meta-joke. He’s already using the brain he thinks he doesn’t have to construct these complex verbal patterns.
The Tin Man’s lyrics, meanwhile, are much softer. They’re "gentle and sentimental." It’s fascinating because the songs from Wizard of Oz lyrics act as a psychological diagnostic for the characters. They are literally singing their insecurities into existence while proving they already possess the traits they desire. The Cowardly Lion’s lyrics are the funniest, mostly because Bert Lahr’s delivery turned "hottentot" and "monarch" into comedic gold. But the core remains: "I’m afraid there’s no denyin' / I’m just a dandelion."
Why the Munchkinland Sequence is a Technical Nightmare
If you’ve ever actually sat down and read the full lyrics to the Munchkinland medley, you realize it’s a massive piece of narrative storytelling. It’s not just one song. It’s a "musical scene."
It starts with "Come Out, Come Out" and transitions into the "Ding-Dong!" celebration. The lyrics here had to do a lot of heavy lifting. They had to explain the death of the Wicked Witch of the East, introduce the concept of the Munchkins, and establish Glinda’s authority—all while staying catchy.
- The Lullaby League: "We welcome you to Munchkinland."
- The Lollipop Guild: "And in the name of the Lollipop Guild..."
- The Mayor’s Proclamation: "As Mayor of the Munchkin City, in the County of the Land of Oz..."
The word "indignantly" appears in the lyrics. Think about that. In a 1930s movie for families, they’re using words like "indignantly" and "proclaim." It didn't talk down to the audience. It treated the world of Oz as a real place with real laws and real civic procedures, even if those procedures were being sung by people in felt hats.
The "Merry Old Land of Oz" and Cultural Satire
When the gang finally reaches the Emerald City, the tone shifts. "The Merry Old Land of Oz" is a high-energy, vaudeville-style number. But if you look at the lyrics, it’s actually a bit of a critique of high society.
Everything is about appearance. "We get up at twelve and start to work at one / Take an hour for lunch and then at two we're done." It’s a joke about the "idle rich." They spend their time getting their "wiskers" trimmed and being "beautified." Harburg was poking fun at the artifice of Hollywood and the elite.
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The repetition of "Ha-ha-ha, ho-ho-ho" makes the song feel manic. It’s a bit too happy. It’s the kind of happiness that feels like it’s masking something—which, of course, it is, since the Wizard is a total fraud. The lyrics tell you the truth before the plot does.
Lost Lyrics and "The Jitterbug"
Most people think they know all the songs from Wizard of Oz lyrics, but there’s a "ghost" song. "The Jitterbug" was a full-blown musical number that was filmed and then completely cut from the movie.
It was supposed to happen in the haunted forest. The Wicked Witch sends a "bug" to make the characters dance until they collapse from exhaustion. The lyrics are frantic: "Who's that hiding / In the tree of June? / Are you ready? / I'm a Jitterbug!"
It’s a shame it was cut because it explains why the characters are so tired when the Flying Monkeys finally swoop in. It also would have dated the movie significantly. "The Jitterbug" was a very 1930s dance craze. By cutting it, the producers accidentally made the film timeless. The remaining lyrics don't rely on slang from the era, which is why they still sound fresh nearly a century later.
The Rhythmic Genius of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road"
It’s the shortest song in the movie, basically. But it’s the most effective "earworm."
The rhyme scheme is simple: Road/Oz. But the rhythm is what matters. It’s a march. It’s designed to get you moving. "Follow the yellow brick road" (stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp). The lyrics act as a literal GPS for the plot.
Interestingly, the lyrics for this section were often sung by the actors at different speeds to match their walking pace. If you listen closely to the soundtrack, the munchkins' voices (which were recorded at normal speed and then sped up) have a rhythmic precision that matches the orchestral hits perfectly. It’s a level of production detail that you just don't see anymore.
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Misconceptions About the Words
People mishear these lyrics all the time. In "If I Only Had a Brain," people often think the Scarecrow says he’d be "behaving" when he actually says he'd be "linkin'" (as in Abraham Lincoln).
Another one? In the "Optimistic Voices" (the song the invisible choir sings when they wake up in the poppies), the lyrics are: "You're out of the woods / You're out of the dark / You're out of the night."
Many people think they’re singing "You’re off to the woods." But that would make no sense. They just left the woods. The song is about relief. It’s about the transition from the nightmare of the poppies back into the light of the Emerald City. The lyrics represent the literal "waking up" of the characters’ hope.
Bringing the Lyrics to Life: A Practical Approach
If you're looking to analyze or perform these songs, you have to look past the "kid movie" veneer. To really get the most out of the songs from Wizard of Oz lyrics, try these steps:
- Read the lyrics as poetry first. Forget the melody. Look at the "If I Only Had a Heart" lyrics. They are incredibly sad. "I'd be friends with the sparrows / and the boy who shoots the arrows." That’s a reference to Cupid. It’s a poem about loneliness.
- Identify the "I Want" song. Every great musical has one. "Over the Rainbow" is the gold standard. When studying the lyrics, notice how it never mentions a "wizard" or "magic." It’s all about nature—birds, rainbows, raindrops. It’s a grounded desire.
- Listen for the "Patter." Harburg loved patter songs (songs with fast, rhythmic lyrics). The Lion’s "If I Were King of the Forest" is a classic example. Pay attention to the fake-regal vocabulary: "royaludity," "hottentot," "knighthood."
The brilliance of these lyrics is that they work on two levels. To a five-year-old, they are fun rhymes about lions and witches. To an adult, they are a sophisticated exploration of what it means to be "complete"—to have a mind, a heart, and the courage to use them. They are lyrics about the human condition, dressed up in gingham and blue face paint.
The reason we still talk about these songs isn't just nostalgia. It's because the craftsmanship is impenetrable. You can't find a "weak" line in the whole film. Every word serves the story, every rhyme reinforces a character trait, and every stanza pushes Dorothy one step closer to home.
Next time you find yourself singing "We're Off to See the Wizard," pay attention to that middle section—the "Because, because, because, because, because!" It’s not just filler. It’s the sound of pure, unadulterated momentum. And in songwriting, momentum is everything.