If I Only Had a Brain

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"If I Only Had a Brain" (also "If I Only Had a Heart" and "If I Only Had the Nerve") is a song in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz by Harold Arlen (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics). The song is sung by the characters that meet Dorothy talking about what each character wants from the Wizard.

[edit] "If I Only Had a Brain"

The Scarecrow's version of the song is sung about getting a brain. The original recording included an extravagant dance routine with Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow), as choreographed by Busby Berkley but the dance was eventually cut in fear that it was too lengthy. Cut also was a closing vocal stanza to the number.

The sequence was eventually used as a segment in the 1985 film That's Dancing!.

Consideration was given to restoring it for the film's 1998 reissue, but Warner Bros. changed their minds, in the interest of not tampering with the classic film. However, it is included in the DVD extras.

Harry Connick, Jr. recorded "If I Only Had a Brain" for his album "20." This song was also covered by alternative rock band The Flaming Lips for the soundtrack to the video game Stubbs the Zombie.

[edit] "If I Only Had a Heart"

The Tin Man's version of the song, about getting a heart, is sung after he says "No heart. All hollow." In the song, a girl's voice (that of Adriana Caselotti, best known for playing the title role in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) comes in singing, "Wherefore art thou Romeo."

The song was first recorded by Buddy Ebsen, originally cast as the Tin Man until a makeup-induced illness forced him to withdraw (see "Casting" in The Wizard of Oz). Although it was re-recorded by his replacement, Jack Haley, Ebsen's original recording survived and can be heard as one of many bonus tracks on the 1995 deluxe soundtrack release, as well as various home video/DVD releases from 1989-onward. Ebsen's version also contains the separately recorded single line recited by Adriana Caselotti. Ebsen's voice also survives in the group vocal, We're Off to See the Wizard.

Ebsen performed his vocals in his natural voice. In his Tin Man portion of the film, Haley eschewed his own natural, somewhat raspy voice and both spoke and sang in a softened tone that he said was the tone he typically used when reading stories to his children.

[edit] "If I Only Had the Nerve"

The Cowardly Lion's version, about courage, is shorter, and is connected to "We're Off to See the Wizard" by a bridge saying "Then I'm sure to get a brain; a heart; a home; the nerve" (a longer version was written, but it was shortened in the interest of balance, since Bert Lahr was given a second musical number, "If I Were King of the Forest," later in the film).

Lahr's natural regional accent was exploited and emphasized for comic effect in this song, which includes several words that are pronounced in a stereotypically "Brooklynese" way: "voive" for "verve", "desoive" for "deserve", and "noive" for "nerve".