Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead Lyrics – Harold Arlen ♫ Overview

Song Overview

The joyous whoop of “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead” bursts from the 1939 fantasy The Wizard of Oz only moments after Dorothy’s farmhouse lands square on the Wicked Witch of the East. Harold Arlen’s peppy two-step and E. Y. Harburg’s tongue-twisting lyrics tumble out of a giggling chorus of The Munchkins, transforming a grisly accident into a carnival. Decades later that very carnival roared back—first as a 1967 sunshine-pop hit for The Fifth Estate, then again when a Facebook protest sent the original to No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in April 2013, the week former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died.

Hollywood thought it just comic relief, yet the American Film Institute eventually ranked the ditty No. 82 on its list of the 100 greatest movie songs, wedging it among titans of the silver-screen canon.

Song Credits

• Featured: The Munchkin Chorus
• Producer (film): Arthur Freed & Mervyn LeRoy
• Comp. Album Producers (2001): Marilee Bradford & Bradley Flanagan
• Composer: Harold Arlen
• Lyricist: E. Y. “Yip” Harburg
• Arranger / Conductor: Herbert Stothart
• Orchestration: Leo Arnaud
• Release Date: August 25 1939
• Genre: Show-tune, comedic march
• Instruments: Children’s chorus, celeste, piccolo flutters, snare drum, brassy fanfare
• Label: MGM / Decca (original 78 rpm)
• Mood: Triumphant, impish
• Length: 0 min 47 s (soundtrack segment)
• Language: English
• Album: The Wizard of Oz (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Music style: 2/4 patter-song with barbershop accents
• Poetic meter: Trochaic bursts (“Ding-dong”) broken by rapid internal rhyme
• Copyright ©: 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; renewal 1967

Song Meaning and Annotations

On screen the verse arrives like a piñata explosion—whistles, giggles, a miniature brass band. Where “Over the Rainbow” bends the heart, Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead slaps the funny-bone. The lyrics read like a news bulletin delivered by children hopped up on lemonade: the Mayor, the Barrister, even the Coroner each take the mic, layering legalese over nursery-rhyme scansion.

Yet Harburg sneaks real-world satire under the fireworks. The comedic inquest—“morally, ethically, spiritually, physically… dead” —pokes fun at bureaucracy’s need for paperwork before joy may commence. Listen for the quick-step piccolo riff: it mirrors the Lollipop Guild’s high-kicking march, stitching Oz’s musical numbers into a unified toy-box universe.

Opening Refrain

Ding-dong! The Witch is dead / Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!

The doubled question-and-answer pattern invites the audience to chant along, collapsing any gap between film and living-room floor.

Legal Chorus

Spiritually, physically / Positively, absolutely…

Rhyming adverbs tick off like courtroom stamps, as though Oz requires multiple departments before issuing a death certificate.

Coroner’s Verdict

She’s not only merely dead / She’s really most sincerely dead

That famous flourish—half vaudeville, half Dr. Seuss—cements the song as a childhood earworm while admitting the absurdity of celebrating someone’s demise.

Lullaby & Lollipop Sub-numbers

Within one minute the tune fractures into micro-songs for the Lullaby League and the Lollipop Guild, proto-sampling long before hip-hop. Each snippet changes key then darts back, a carnival ride too giddy to stop.

Similar Songs

1. “Hakuna Matata” – Nathan Lane & Ernie Sabela (1994) Both songs convert menace into merriment: Oz’s goblin-gone witch mirrors Simba’s exile anxiety turned hakuna-carefree. Bouncy two-syllable refrains (“Hakuna Matata,” “Ding-Dong”) lodge in kids’ brains, while sly adult jokes pepper each verse.
2. “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” – Thurl Ravenscroft (1966) A villain’s downfall scored with comedic brass. Ravenscroft’s basso-profundo lists the Grinch’s sins much like the Barrister’s stacked adjectives. Both rely on cartoonish orchestration and minor-to-major shifts to balance menace and glee.
3. “Oom-Pah-Pah” – Cast of Oliver! (1960 stage / 1968 film) Another ensemble knees-up rooted in British music-hall. Where The Munchkins celebrate liberation from tyranny, Fagin’s crowd toasts life’s dodgier pleasures—but each chorus invites the audience to join, mugs raised.

Questions and Answers

Did the song chart in its own era?

No US singles chart existed in 1939, but sheet-music sales spiked; the first real chart success came via The Fifth Estate’s psychedelic cover, peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1967.

How did it surge to No. 2 in Britain in 2013?

A Facebook campaign opposing Margaret Thatcher urged listeners to download the original; 52,605 sales in five days propelled it to second place, while the BBC aired only seven seconds to avoid “celebration of death.”

Does the film feature a reprise?

Yes—an Emerald City reprise blends the melody with “We’re Off to See the Wizard” after the Wicked Witch of the West melts, though many TV edits trimmed it.

Why did the AFI select it for its Top 100?

Jurors praised the song’s “instant emotional clarity”: in under a minute it flips terror into liberation, embodying the musical’s narrative power.

What’s the most inventive cover?

Klaus Nomi’s 1978 avant-cabaret version drapes operatic falsetto over icy synths, turning Munchkinland into sci-fi Berlin clubland.

Awards and Chart Positions

• AFI 100 Years…100 Songs: Ranked No. 82 (2004).
• UK Singles Chart: No. 2 (week ending 14 April 2013).
• Billboard Hot 100 (cover): The Fifth Estate – No. 11 (July 1967).

Fan and Media Reactions

“Hearing tiny voices chant bureaucracy—morally, ethically—still cracks me up eighty-plus years on.” – Film blogger @VintageVox

“Bought it in 2013 out of pure protest. Never thought I’d help a Munchkin chart!” – UK Twitter user Sarah P.

“The Fifth Estate’s harpsichord break is baroque pop nirvana.” – Reddit vinyl community

“BBC only played seven seconds—those seven seconds set the phone-in lines ablaze.” – Radio 1 producer (Guardian interview)

“Kids gasp when they realise they’re cheering a death; that tension is why the song endures.” – Music-education podcast ‘Scoring Notes’