March Of The Witch Hunters
Wicked [original broadway cast] Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Ozians
Go and hunt her
And find her
And kill her

Vicious Woman
Good fortune, Witch Hunters!

Ozians
Go and hunt her
And find her
And kill her

Rabid Man
Kill the Witch!

Ozians
Wickedness must be punished
Evil effectively eliminated
Wickedness must be punished
Kill the Witch!

Tin Man
And this is more than just a service to the Wizard. I have a personal score to settle with Elph—with the Witch!

It's due to her I'm made of tin
Her spell made this occur
So, for once I'm glad I'm heartless
I'll be heartless killing her!

And the lion also has a grievance to repay
If she'd let him fight his own battles when he was young
He wouldn't be a coward today!

All
Kill her!
Kill the witch!
Wickedness must be punished
Brave Witch hunters, I would join you if I could
Because wickedness must be punished
Punished

Punished
For good!

Overall Meaning

The song "March of the Witch Hunters" from the musical Wicked is a rally cry for the Ozians to hunt down and kill Elphaba, the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West. The song opens with the Ozians singing in unison, commanding the Witch Hunters to go find and kill Elphaba. The lyrics are repeated several times, setting the ominous and threatening tone of the song.

The chorus reinforces the theme that wickedness must be punished and effectively eliminated. The Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, two characters from the original Wizard of Oz story, join in the hunt for Elphaba, both with personal motives for revenge. The Tin Man blames Elphaba for the curse that turned him into a metal man, and the Cowardly Lion believes that Elphaba's interference in his childhood is the root cause of his cowardice.

The song is a turning point in the musical, as the Ozians' hunt for Elphaba becomes more fervent and violent. It highlights the destructive power of mob mentality and blind obedience to authority, as the Witch Hunters are spurred on by the Wizard's propaganda machine. It also serves to build tension and anticipation for the inevitable confrontation between Elphaba and the Ozians.

Line by Line Meaning

Go and hunt her
Begin to search for the witch

And find her
Locate the witch

And kill her
Execute the witch

Good fortune, Witch Hunters!
Wish the witch hunters good luck

Wickedness must be punished
It is necessary to penalize evil actions

Evil effectively eliminated
Ensure that evil is completely eradicated

Kill the Witch!
Order to execute the witch

And this is more than just a service to the Wizard. I have a personal score to settle with Elph—with the Witch!
I have a personal vendetta to settle with the witch, it's not just a mission for the Wizard

It's due to her I'm made of tin
Attributing the condition of being made of tin to the witch's spell

Her spell made this occur
Acknowledging that the spell cast by the witch is the cause of the current situation

So, for once I'm glad I'm heartless
Glad to not have a heart just for this moment

I'll be heartless killing her!
Will be ruthless while executing her

And the lion also has a grievance to repay
Lion has a score to settle with the witch

If she'd let him fight his own battles when he was young
If the witch didn't intervene when lion was young, things would've been different

He wouldn't be a coward today!
Lion wouldn't be a coward today if he had been given a chance to fight his battles

Brave Witch hunters, I would join you if I could
Brave Witch hunters, I would join you if I was capable

Punished Punished For good!
Punished relentlessly for the betterment of everyone

Contributed by Adam S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

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Comments from YouTube:

@KareBear2199

6y↑116

When I was little, I would put the CD in the radio just to listen to this song. This is my favorite track!\

EDIT: Also, the part where Boq says "If she had let him fight his own battles when he was young, he wouldn't be a coward today." So...you're going to kill her for bad parenting?

@TheHManShow

6y↑64

So short and yet so epic

@elodie_camcorder

6y↑86

oh elphaba. I feel so bad for this sweet little peach

@KeepCalmContemplateYourChoices

5y↑13

Don't you mean, Kiwi?

@KeepCalmContemplateYourChoices

3y↑3

@Hope DiGiovanni iT sEeMs LiKe ThE aRtIcHoKe hAs BeEn StEaMeD

@ocean6947

1y↑7

the way Boq yells "the witch" gives me chills

@johnmartin4119

6y↑156

Does anyone else think the lion was underused. I love the musical and everything but I kinda wish the lion was more involved in the story. Especially since he was my favorite from the movie

@carlyncollier2223

5y↑11

He has a whole scene thats not in a song :)

@KeepCalmContemplateYourChoices

4y↑5

@@carlyncollier2223 Yes but he was just a cub. And he didn't say anything.

@NairAthul

3y↑8

It's because the character design belongs to MGM (Warner Bros) not Universal

@MrMrMrprofessor

3y↑15

If I'm not mistaken, the Lion's reduced presence was a conscious choice, especially for the musical. While we do see the Tin Man and Scarecrow in person in the musical, we only see Dorothy's shadow and hear her crying, and we just hear the Lion's voice, see his tail, and see him as a cub. The reason why Dorothy and the Lion are barely featured is because they are easily the two most iconic characters from the Wizard of Oz, even more than Tin Man and Scarecrow. The Lion is also EASILY the most popular of the main characters. The creators of Wicked were worried that featuring Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion too much would draw attention away from the story and that they would distract from Elphaba, Glinda and the story of Wicked. So that's why the Lion plays a small role.

@Emerldcty

2y↑2

and wicked happened before dorothy, the lion was probably the cub here.

@aurawarrior1367

2y↑10

The Tin man's line was freaking brutal

@lowonfuel7614

3y↑16

I like the fact that they brought up the lion she helped. It’s a good callback to No Good Deed

@CJ17Mag

7y↑80

is it me or does anyone else cant help but think of the mob song when they hear or see this song?

@Cuurse09

4y↑12

With a few minor tweaks, this one would perfectly represent my (and my classmates') hatred for The Wicked Math Teacher.
Plus it just so happens to be in my top 5 from this album.

@rimfire8217

4y↑13

This song is just the internet

@alexispetro7703

2y↑5

I love the wizard of oz version too that shows the wizard and also how the wicked witch of the west became green and bad, it's good :0

@johnkrejsa9977

8y↑47

I'm guessing this is the theme song of the K. Rool, Shovel Knight, and Shantae fans who were outraged when Bayonetta became Smash DLC instead of them. ;)

@JacobNintendoNerd99

6y↑5

This exact song was unironically used with a sort of sarcastic tone to it by people pissed off about Bayonetta for like months

@druvjuice6906

Well, replace the K.Rool fans with Sora fans

@Ez_Darling

2y↑1

About that-

@elodie_camcorder

6y↑24

i don't think that was her fault. Her friends just turned on her.

@jackierocha5096

3y↑2

I mean especially with Boq’s case she really didn’t have much time to come up with anything else to save him(because who knows if there was even a spell in there to make his heart grow back or if it could be found in time), it’s Nessa’s fault he ended up like this, except at this point she was already dead so he’s really only got 1 person left to blame for his predicament

@shady2322

1y↑1

She didn't really have any friends though. Just Galinda.

@EliasHasle

2y↑5

This is one of the parts that are better experienced as the listeners than as the performers...

My choir is doing this, and I am tasked with the tin man solo, basically warming up only to be thrown into that hellish first tenor part 😨, jumping down from "high" Bb 😰 (below the tenor high C) and finishing with a jump up to Bb in fortissimo 😥 on the vowel "oo" ("...for good!!"). 😵

Yeah, I will need to practice more... Wish me success for the end of October! 😅

@floydgellisiii4163

50w↑2

This is a bit late, but how did it go?

@EliasHasle

50w↑2

@@floydgellisiii4163 Thanks for asking! 😊 It was fun. According to my harshest critic (my beloved wife! 😅), the tin man solo was my best part of the whole performance. There is always something that is not perfect, but I think it was quite good overall. The secretly present representatives of the intellectual property owners approved of the show too.

@martynmcmurray5410

8y↑57

This seems more like a Villain song. HEY! How's about some/anyone starts an AMV with villains doing this song to hunt down a female hero (the "Witch" in their eyes)?

@emmarobbins6481

6y↑2

Martyn McMurray You're not wrong.

@genuineinterest

6y↑8

Well... I mean... that is basically the original context of this song...

@rachelk3887

3y↑6

It literally is a villain song though? The witch is the protagonist and she’s being hunted down on the orders of an evil, corrupt politician who is behind the discrimination against Animals and taking away their rights.

@daxoze

40w↑3

Me: this is so messed up, Elphaba is not evil, she is good

Also me: WICK👏ED👏NESS👏 MUST👏 BE👏 PUN👏ISHED👏

@Zoethechoirkid

50w↑1

This song has no right being such a banger

@musicaltheatrefan2k226

2y↑4

0:23 Wickedness must be punished!
KILL THE ~~WITCH~~ BEAST!

@921F3

6y↑19

Why has Boq suddenly become Irish?

@justmusic1695

5y↑3

I'm glad I'm not the only person hearing that! XD

@emmarobbins6481

6y↑32

So did Elphabue know the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and the Lion before she became the Wicked witch of the west or what???

@imnotacat3798

6y↑44

The Tin Man is a Munchkin who she helped heal after he lost his heart from a spell.
The Lion was a cub that she saved from being experimented on in university.
The Scarecrow is her lover who she turned into a man of straw to save him from being tortured.

@justmusic1695

5y↑25

Adding to this, Tinman/Boq became Elphaba's sister's slave after she fell madly in love with him and didn't want him to leave. He wouldn't leave her out of pity for her being disabled. Elphaba "cures" her and she runs to Boq thinking they can finally be together. He rejects her advances and so she tried to make his heart hers... buuuut ended up shrinking his heart into nothingness and almost killing him. Elphaba turned him into a Tinman so he wouldn't need his heart anymore. Boq was my fave character. He gets so thoroughly screwed over throughout the whole thing xD

@khaza1wolfgurl

5y↑2

@@justmusic1695 Oof. Just, oof!

@kp4692

5y↑5

Yeah, the biggest wow is that the Scarecrows name is Fiyero and him and Elphaba are in love with each other

@late_prince8945

3y↑2

They also knew each other back from school years

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@Heylilvelvet

13y↑21

Ive never heard of this play until i heard this song. its really cool and catchy. I dont like witches except for one and that's Glinda. witch of the North.

@fangirlyeahthatsme958

7y↑11

Heylilvelvet it's GAlinda😉😂😊

@GoldenRose116

6y↑5

and she is the witch of the south

@aidanbehrens6518

6y↑7

You haven't watched this music, have you...

@genuineinterest

6y↑5

Hopefully in the 6 years since you made this comment, you actually watched the musical...

@Heylilvelvet

28w

I did say that i never watched it. I was just referring to what she said in the movie. "I'm Glinda, the witch of the North." If its different compared to the musical, I'll look more into those details.

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@jackierocha5096

You know what I don’t get, why Boq didn’t try to get Elphaba to undo what she clearly had to do in the limited time moment, cause he does seem to have a slight soft spot for her(with him having to stop himself from calling her by her name) and if she just did nothing he would’ve died(so he clearly knows that if she could do this to him she could definitely find a way to undo it)

@h193013

1y↑1

They said in the show that spells cannot be reversed

@Bexilulz

12y↑14

@Heylilvelvet Wait, isn't she the Good witch of the South?

@avithanigam683

6y↑3

No, she's the wicked witch of the west

@silvi3171

@DreemurrKid118 I'm like ninety percent sure there isn't a Witch, it's just the Wizard?? But I could be wrong. Don't kill me plz this is just a guess lol

@silvi3171

Oh nvm scratch that I googled it there's another Good Witch but I can't find her name

@vitormanuel9889

3y↑2

Actually in the original book ( not the Wicked bool the Wizard of Oz Book)
There were foir witches, and Glinda wasnt the good witch of north instead a old lady named Locasta, and Glinda only appeared in the end as the good witch of the south

@rachelk3887

The Good Witch of the South? Wtf? What did you think this show was about? Why do you think the show is called Wicked? And the logo a green witch with a black hat? It’s loosely based on a book called Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and it’s a retelling of The Wizard of Oz that shows that the Wicked Witch of the West was actually the good guy. You think someone wrote a musical about “the Good Witch of the South?”

3 More Replies...