Saturday, October 14, 2006

Witch IS it?

I'm writing the liner notes for a Pinky Winters - Lou Levy CD, Speak Low, due out in December in Japan. These are but some of the variant spellings I found for one of the titles, from The Wizard of Oz, on the net and in reference books where one might expect a degree of concision and agreement. Curiously, the two most obviously askew permutations were at official Arlen and Harburg (writers of the song) web sites. I'm not interested in grammar but, rather, the way the song was originally published. And ASCAP's site is no help; it only has every word in all caps. Anyone out there ever seen the original sheet music?

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead
Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead
Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead
Ding Dong!, the Witch is Dead
Ding-Dong, the Witch is Dead
(Ding Dong), the Witch is Dead
Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead
Ding Dong!, the Witch Is Dead
Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead
Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead!
Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

. . .and so on and so forth. And while I am well aware that a foolish consistency CAN be the hobgoblin of small minds, still my still small researcher's voice urges me on to getting it right. And what is right? I am not even certain that "is", in the usage here IS a proposition.

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