As a kid, I was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz, to the point that on my first day of Kindergarten, I insisted that my name was Dorothy. Every year, I looked forward to watching the movie on TV with a heady mixture of excitement and dread. I was terrified of the Wicked Witch and the flying monkeys, but also thrilled at the prospect of travelling to a world full of magic and talking animals.
As I got older, I became equally obsessed with the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, which were full of fascinating characters and new ways for Dorothy to find herself back in the magical land.
As a kid, I think my love of the Oz stories was largely about the dream of escaping to a place where magical things could happen. But lately I’ve been thinking about how the world is already pretty magical. At the touch of a few buttons, I can listen to almost any song, watch thousands of movies and TV shows, have incredible food appear right outside my door, and have whole boxes of random items fly across the country just for me. I know I often take all of these things for granted, but I’m sure to someone from an earlier time (even L. Frank Baum himself perhaps), it would all seem like sorcery.
But when I wrote this song, I wasn’t thinking about the magic of Oz, but about the Wizard. At the time, I was frustrated by all of the bigwigs in the news who get so much attention, just for having money and celebrity. And it reminded me of how one of the big lessons of the first Oz book is that the “Wonderful Wizard” Dorothy goes to for help turns out to be a man who ended up in Oz by accident, just like she did– a man who got very good at projecting a larger-than-life persona while hiding behind a screen.
The Emerald City
We travelled to the Emerald City
Through the land of Oz,
Hoping the Wizard would take pity
And rally to our cause.
But despite his booming voice
And shining riches,
He was just a man behind a screen.
Just a man pretending he had all the answers,
In his palace made of green.
We don’t need witches,
And we don’t need wizards.
They cause more problems in the end.
The true magic lies in what we have together
In the company of friends.
When the cyclone came, I was tossed around and twisted,
My whole life was torn away.
Waking up to things I never knew existed,
And colors brighter than the brightest Kansas day.
And strange new people
Who joined me on the journey.
They felt just like my family.
We were wiser, kinder, braver all together
Than any “magic man” could be.
We don’t need witches
And we don’t need wizards.
They’re nothing special in the end.
The true answers lie in fighting for each other
In our company of friends.
There may be golden roads
But they will never lead you home,
They only lead to humbugs
Who are not what they pretend.
And though you may be quite impressed
By witches North, South, East, or West.
Their claims will not hold water in the end.
When we arrived at last
And told him our position,
The Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion and me.
The Wizard sent us on a deadly mission,
To fight his greatest enemy.
And when the witch was washed away
Her monkeys had a lot to say:
They were taking orders just like me.
The wizard floated off in his big balloon to nowhere.
And the land of Oz was free.
We don’t need witches
And we don’t need wizards.
They are only serving their own ends.
We will find we have everything we ever needed
In our company of friends.
Thanks for listening! If you have any favorite childhood books you would like me to write a song about, please tell me in the comments below.
The Loudest Librarian! 
That was awesome!!!! Thank you so much for writing and sharing such a beautiful song.
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It means a lot.