The songs from the 1939 musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz have taken their place among the most famous and instantly recognizable American songs of all time, and the film's principal song, "Over the Rainbow", is perhaps the most famous song ever written for a film. Music and lyrics were by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Over the Rainbow."
Herbert Stothart, who adapted the music for the screen, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz. Georgie Stoll was the associate conductor and screen credits were given to George Bassman, Murray Cutter (who did "Over the Rainbow"), Ken Darby and Paul Marquardt for orchestral and vocal arrangements. As usual, Roger Edens was heavily involved as the unbilled musical associate of Arthur Freed. Incidental music was contributed by Stoll, Bassman, Robert StringerHarmetz, Aljean, The Making of The Wizard of Oz, Hyperion, NY, 1977, pp. 92–7. and also Conrad Salinger. The music to "Optimistic Voices" was written by Arlen and Stothart.
Herbert Stothart conducted the MGM Studio Orchestra in scoring sessions for The Wizard of Oz. The songs were recorded with a full orchestra on the MGM scoring stage before filming. Several of the recordings were completed while Buddy Ebsen, who was supposed to have played the Tin Man, was still with the cast. So while he had to be dropped from the cast due to illness from the aluminum powder makeup, his singing voice remains on the soundtrack. It is Jack Haley, who eventually played the role, that is seen and heard singing "If I Only Had A Heart", but Ebsen's voice is still heard on the group vocals of "We're Off To See The Wizard". In those vocals, his voice is easy to detect. Ray Bolger (and also Jack Haley) were speakers with a distinct Boston accent and did not pronounce the r in wizard. Buddy Ebsen was a Midwesterner, like Judy Garland, and pronounced the r.
Although an orchestra underscores nearly the entire film, approximately the last third of the movie contains no songs. Once Dorothy and her cohorts are handed the task of killing the Wicked Witch, the mood of the film goes a bit darker. This was not originally intended—the last three songs in the film, "The Jitterbug," the vocal reprise of "Over The Rainbow," and "The Triumphant Return" were all excised from the film before its official release.
Music in the film Songs
"The Jitterbug", "Over the Rainbow (Reprise)", and "Hail! Hail! the Witch Is Dead!", were all cut from the final film. A brief moment from "Hail! Hail! the Witch Is Dead!" can be seen in the 1949 re-release trailer for the film. "If I Were King of the Forest" does not appear in the immersive 4D version of the film created in 2025 to screen at Sphere in the Las Vegas Valley due to the film's runtime being shortened.
Instrumentals In addition to the well-known vocals by Harburg and Arlen, nearly the entire film was underscored by arranger Herbert Stothart, using a mixture of instrumental-only leitmotifs composed for some of the characters, instrumental references to some of the vocals, and traditional and classical pieces. Much of the following information (which is by no means an exhaustive list) is taken from the Deluxe CD liner notes.
Composed for the film Opening credits medley: Glinda's theme (The Good Fairy Vanishes), dynamic full-orchestra version, played over the MGM Leo the Lion logo; followed by segments of "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead" played slowly and majestically, so that the song is almost unrecognizable; they lead into a triumphant, full-orchestra version of "Over the Rainbow", then we hear "It Really Was No Miracle", a triumphant version of "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are", and "It Really Was No Miracle" again, followed by original music while the film's foreword appears on the screen. Miss Gulch's / Witch's theme – repeated every time Miss Gulch or the witch appears. This repeated seven-note motif is actually a "crippled" variation (inverted and compressed in range) of the musical figure for "We're Off to See the Wizard". Orientale theme – for Professor Marvel and for The Wizard Glinda's theme (aka "The Good Fairy Vanishes") – 6-note pattern repeated several times rapidly each time Glinda arrives or leaves in her bubble: G, D, E, B-flat, G, C-sharp. March of the Winkies – Five-note chant of “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!” performed by the Winkie Guards. The nonsensical lyrics have been the subject of misinterpretation over the years, even thought by some to be a plug for Oreo cookies. It was later sampled by several popular music artists including Metallica (“The Frayed Ends of Sanity”), LL Cool J (“I'm That Type of Guy”), and Prince (“It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night”). Closing credits medley: Glinda's theme (full orchestra) / Over the Rainbow
Not composed specifically for the film "The Happy Farmer", i.e. Fröhlicher Landmann, von der Arbeit zurückkehrend, "The Happy Farmer Returning from Work" from Schumann's Album for the Young – opening scene, establishing scenes in Kansas, and during "ride" in cyclone "My Castle's in the Courtyard" (nursery rhyme) – in sequence leading up to "Over the Rainbow" "The Whistler and His Dog" (by Septimus Winner) a.k.a. "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" – when Toto escapes from Miss Gulch's basket as she pedals on her bicycle to the sheriff "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" (by Harry Williams and Egbert Van Alstyne) – when Dorothy and the Scarecrow find themselves in an apple orchard "Brahms' Lullaby" - when Dorothy and the Lion fall asleep in the poppy field Scherzo Opus 16 #2 (by Mendelssohn) – when Toto escapes from the castle "Night on Bald Mountain" (by Mussorgsky) – during chase scenes at the witch's castle "Gaudeamus Igitur" (traditional) – a few bars when the Wizard awards the Scarecrow his honorary degree "Home! Sweet Home!" (by John Howard Payne and Henry Bishop) – as Dorothy says the words and clicks her heels, and in the final scene in Kansas. In the final moments of this scene, a horn intones "Home Sweet Home" in counterpoint to the final strain of "Over The Rainbow."
Song previews Most of the songs were first heard on radio on a fifteen-minute program called MGM: Leo Is On the Air a few months prior to the film's release. In what must have been an extremely unusual step at the time, the actual soundtrack versions of the songs were used. had earlier recorded a single of "Over the Rainbow" as well as "The Jitterbug", a song eventually deleted from the film, but MGM had suppressed the recording because they wanted to preview the songs themselves. The radio preview proved a huge success and, through repeated live radio playings, "Over the Rainbow" soared to the top of the hit parade charts even before audiences saw the film. An obviously staged "backstage glimpse" at the planning and making of the film, hosted by Robert Young, and featuring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, lyricist E.Y. Harburg, and composer Harold Arlen, was the subject of an episode of the Good News of 1939 radio program. This program also gave a sneak preview of some of the music, but interspersed it with comedy skits by such artists as Fannie Brice. Brice, in her radio persona of Baby Snooks, was featured in a skit in which Lancelot Higgins (Hanley Stafford) tried to tell her the story of The Wizard of Oz, but was constantly interrupted and almost kept from attending the film's premiere by the toddler, who virtually forced him into taking her along. The entire program, as well as the Leo is On the Air episode, is included as a supplement on the Wizard of Oz DVD.
Albums 1939 Decca studio album
The first record album of music from the film was not a soundtrack album in the sense that the term is used today, or even an original cast album, although it is sometimes erroneously called so. It was, instead, a U.S. Decca four-record 78 rpm studio cast album of songs from the film released in 1939, featuring Judy Garland as Dorothy but with the Ken Darby Singers in other roles. Darby had also been one of the film's music arrangers, but the arrangements made for the film were not used in this album. This album was about twenty minutes long. There was no overture or finale included, and most of the songs were not placed in the same order that they were heard in the film. The album also used some introductory song verses which had not been included in the motion picture and were not used in the MGM radio previews. Two songs heard in the film as finally released were omitted from the album—"Optimistic Voices" and "If I Were King of the Forest"; however, the album did include the song "The Jitterbug", which had been deleted from the film. It also used, oddly enough, dialogue which never appeared in the movie; at one point, during "The Merry Old Land of Oz", Dorothy says, "We can't go to see the Wizard like this! We're all dirty!", after which the group supposedly enters the Wash and Brush Up room in the Emerald City. The reprise of "Over the Rainbow" and the "Triumphal Return" sequence were also not included.
The orchestra on the album was conducted by Victor Young. In the "Munchkinland" medley, the Ken Darby Singers provided the voices of the Munchkins, but they were not altered to sound "chipmunk"-like, as in the film.
On the rest of the 1939 album, an unnamed soloist took the role of Dorothy.
This album was quite a success, and after being reissued in a 45-rpm version and as a 10-inch LP, it was finally re-released in 1956 , "The Judy Room" as one side of a 12-inch 33 rpm LP, the other side occupied by cover versions of songs from Disney's Pinocchio (1940), with Cliff Edwards, the film's Jiminy Cricket, as lead soloist. This is also the year that MGM Records first released an authentic soundtrack album of The Wizard of Oz.
The 1939 Decca "cover album" stayed in print throughout the 1950s, even after MGM Records' authentic soundtrack album of The Wizard of Oz was released. Judy Garland's 1939 cover versions of "Over the Rainbow" and "The Jitterbug" were released years later on the 1994 Decca box set The Complete Decca Masters (plus), which featured all of Garland's Decca singles and several alternate takes. The Decca single of "Over the Rainbow" has been released on an MCA compact disc entitled 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection – The Best of Judy Garland, among various other compilations; the entire album was scheduled to be released on CD for the first time in 2014, as part of a 75th anniversary Wizard of Oz collection.
1956 MGM soundtrack album