The Wizard of Oz is famous for its musical selections and soundtrack. Its songs were composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by E. Y. "Yip" Harburg. They won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow". The song ranks first in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs and the Recording Industry Association of America's "365 Songs of the Century".
MGM composer Herbert Stothart, a well-known Hollywood composer and songwriter, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Georgie Stoll was associate conductor, and screen credit was given to George Bassman, Murray Cutter, Ken Darby and Paul Marquardt for orchestral and vocal arrangements. (As usual, Roger Edens was also heavily involved as an unbilled musical associate to Freed.)
The songs were recorded in the studio's scoring stage before filming. Several of the recordings were completed while Ebsen was still with the cast. Although he had to be dropped from the cast because of a dangerous reaction to his aluminum powder makeup, his singing voice remained on the soundtrack (as mentioned in the notes for the CD Deluxe Edition). He can be heard in the group vocals of "We're Off to See the Wizard".
Bolger's original recording of "If I Only Had a Brain" was far more sedate than the version in the film. During filming, Cukor and LeRoy decided a more energetic rendition better suited Dorothy's initial meeting with the Scarecrow, and it was rerecorded. The original version was considered lost until a copy was discovered in 2009.[63]
Songs
All lyrics are written by E. Y. Yip Harburg; all music is composed by Harold Arlen
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Over the Rainbow" | Judy Garland | |
| 2. | "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are" | Billie Burke & The Munchkins Chorus | |
| 3. | "It Really was No Miracle" | Judy Garland & The Munchkins Chorus | |
| 4. | "We Thank You Very Sweetly" | The Munchkins Chorus | |
| 5. | "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" | The Munchkins Chorus | |
| 6. | "As Mayor of the Munchkin City" | Billy Bletcher & Pinto Colvig | |
| 7. | "As Coroner I Must Aver" | Meinhardt Raabe | |
| 8. | "The Lullaby League" | Lorraine Bridges, Betty Rome & Carol Tevis | |
| 9. | "The Lollipop Guild" | Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig & Jerry Maren | |
| 10. | "We Welcome You to Munchkinland" | The Munchkins Chorus | |
| 11. | "You're Off to See the Wizard" | Judy Garland & The Munchkins Chorus | |
| 12. | "If I Only Had a Brain" | Ray Bolger & Judy Garland | |
| 13. | "We're Off to See the Wizard" | Judy Garland & Ray Bolger | |
| 14. | "If I Only had a Heart" | Jack Haley & Adriana Caselotti | |
| 15. | "We're Off to See the Wizard (Reprise)" | Judy Garland, Ray Bolger & Buddy Ebsen | |
| 16. | "If I Only had the Nerve" | Bert Lahr | |
| 17. | "We're Off to See the Wizard (Reprise 2)" | Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Buddy Ebsen & Bert Lahr | |
| 18. | "Optimistic Voices" | MGM Studio Chorus | |
| 19. | "The Merry Old Land of Oz" | Frank Morgan, Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr & Chorus | |
| 20. | "If I Were King of the Forest" | Bert Lahr, Judy Garland, Ray Bolger & Jack Haley | |
| 21. | "The Jitterbug" | Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley & Bert Lahr |
Deleted songs
Lobby card with still of deleted musical number "Hail! Hail! The Witch Is Dead!", sung upon the return to the Emerald CitySome musical pieces were filmed and deleted later, in the editing process.
The song "The Jitterbug", written in a swing style, was intended for a sequence where the group journeys to the Witch's castle. Owing to time constraints, it was cut from the final theatrical version. The film footage of the song has been lost, although silent home-film footage of rehearsals has survived. The audio recording of the song was preserved, and was included in the two-CD Rhino Records deluxe edition of the soundtrack, as well as on the film's VHS and DVD editions. A reference to "The Jitterbug" remains in the film: The Witch tells her flying monkeys that they should have no trouble apprehending Dorothy and her friends because "I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them."[64]
Another musical number cut before release came right after the Wicked Witch of the West was melted and before Dorothy and her friends returned to the Wizard. This was a reprise of "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" (blended with "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "The Merry Old Land of Oz") with the lyrics altered to "Hail! Hail! The witch is dead!" This started with the Witch's guard saying "Hail to Dorothy! The Wicked Witch is dead!" and dissolved to a huge celebration by the citizens of the Emerald City, who sang the song as they accompanied Dorothy and her friends to the Wizard. Today, the film of this scene is also lost, and only a few stills survive, along with a few seconds of footage used on several reissue trailers. The entire audio track was preserved and is included on the two-CD Rhino Record "deluxe" soundtrack edition.[65]
Garland was to sing a brief reprise of "Over the Rainbow" while Dorothy was trapped in the Witch's castle, but it was cut because it was considered too emotionally intense. Because Garland sung the reprise live on set, only the underscoring from the final edit survives. However, the on-set audio of the scene when it was originally filmed under Richard Thorpe still exists and was included as an extra in all home media releases from 1993 onward. The Deluxe Edition soundtrack marries the singing from the Thorpe take to the underscoring from the Fleming version to approximate what this would have sounded like.[66]
Underscoring
Extensive edits in the film's final cut removed vocals from the last portion of the film. However, the film was fully underscored, with instrumental snippets from the film's various leitmotifs throughout. There was also some recognizable classical and popular music, including:
- Excerpts from Schumann's "The Happy Farmer", at several points early in the film, including the opening scene when Dorothy and Toto hurry home after their encounter with Miss Gulch; when Toto escapes from her; and when the house "rides" the tornado.
- An excerpt of Mendelssohn's Scherzo in E minor, Op. 16, No. 2, when Toto escapes from the Witch's castle.
- An excerpt of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain", when Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion try to escape from the Witch's castle.
- "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree", when Dorothy and the Scarecrow discover the anthropomorphic apple trees.
- "Gaudeamus Igitur", as the Wizard presents awards to the group.
- "Home! Sweet Home!", in part of the closing scene, at Dorothy's house in Kansas.
(This list is excerpted from the liner notes of the Rhino Records collection.)
