Although L. Frank Baum only lived in South Dakota for three years, the footprint he left behind makes him one of South Dakota’s famous authors. His most famous work, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was written during his stay here.
He adapted The Wizard of Oz into a musical show in 1902, which toured the country for nine years.
This cache is the seventh in as series of caches to highlight songs from The Wizard of Oz movie adaptation of 1939.
"We're Off to See the Wizard" is one of the classic and most memorable songs from the Academy Award-winning 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Composer Harold Arlen described it, along with "The Merry Old Land of Oz" and "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead", as one of the "lemon drop" songs of the film. The lyrics are by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg.
The melody's first appearance begins with the Munchkins reciting and Judy Garland echoing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!", which turns into a group vocal by the Munchkins (while Garland skips and dances along the road) and then segues into "You're Off to See the Wizard".
The song occurs as a vocal three more times in the film soundtrack, along with several short instrumental references.
We're Off to See the Wizard
We're off to see the Wizard,
the wonderful Wizard of Oz.
We hear he is a wiz of a wiz
If ever a wiz there was.
If ever, oh ever, a wiz there was,
the Wizard of Oz is one because,
because, because, because, because, because-
because of the wonderful things he does.
We're off to see the Wizard,
the wonderful Wizard of Oz.