The Scarecrow (1902)

A song from the original 1902 musical "The Wizard of Oz." Words by L. Frank Baum. Music by Paul Tietjens. Copyright by M. Witmark & Sons. Published by Hearst's Chicago American newspaper.
Lyrics
1. Tho' I appear a handsome man
I'm really stuffed with straw
'Tis difficult a man to plan
Without a single flaw
Tho' you may think my lovely head
A store of lore contains
The farmer each of skill displayed
And quite forgot my brains
When brains are lacking in a head
It's usually the rule
That wisdom from the man has fled
And he remains a fool
So, tho' my charms are very great
As I am well assured
I'll never reach my full estate
Till brains I have secured
Refrain
Alas! for the man who has little in his noodle
That he knows he's under a ban
And is called a rattle-pate where'er he goes
He always does the very thing he never ought to do
He stumbles and he fumbles
And is aimless, a lobster is he
As anyone with half an eye can see
You can hear them sneer and jeer
For his wheels are out of gear
And it's plain he'll remain quite brainless
2. No doubt when on a man you gaze
You think he must be filled
With wisdom worthy of your praise
Condens'd and quite distilled
But when he once begins to speak
He merely wags his jaw
And you decide that he's a freak
And only stuff'd with straw
And then the way some people act
Will lead you to suspect
That they are brainless, for a fact
And shy on intellect
So, 'tis a matter I deplore
That in my noddle I
Can never any knowledge store
Till brains I can supply
----------------------------------------------------
Sheet music provided by Michael Booth.
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne.
Vocal and video by Vancha March.
The sheet music and midi for this song are at:
www.sheetmusicsinger.com/scar...

[@jamespitt-payne3622]

"Back where I come from we have ..... " I can hear Frank Morgan speaking the words in the film... Back in '97 I visited the Emerald Castle - that hotel place; can't remember the name... Well sung, Vancha! :-)

[@johnc.mitchelljr.2716]

Thank You it's always a joy , i confess , , i'm listening to and watching the piano score 🙃

[@HeyJayThomas]

Very cool! Found this through a mention in The Baum Bugle Volume 65. :)

[@redchandler]

L. Frank Baum sure wrote some clever lyrics. I wonder if he wrote any music besides the Wizard Of Oz stuff.

[@redchandler]

@@SebTheMusician thanks I didn't know that. I'll have to keep a look out for his stuff.

[@redchandler]

@@SebTheMusician interesting! Thanks for the info!

[@jonathanmarkoff4469]

@@redchandler Baum never wrote music, but he wrote plenty of poems that could be set to music. The Book of Father Goose (1899) was an immensely popular volume of nonsense verse, and Baum scattered similar examples through his fairy tales.

[@redchandler]

​@@jonathanmarkoff4469yes, correct. I guess that's what I meant. I don't know why I said that. I guess because once a poem is set to music, to me they are then the lyrics to the song. But thanks for correcting me on that.

[@hookjock]

Is this song Public Domain?

[@jonathanmarkoff4469]

All written compositions from before 1929 are out of copyright. Although certain performances of it may be copyrighted, the song itself is public domain.