Composer Harold Arlen described it, along with "The Merry Old Land of Oz" and "Ding-Dong!
The melody's first appearance begins with the Munchkins reciting and Judy Garland echoing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!
", which turns into a group vocal by the Munchkins (while Garland skips and dances along the road) and then segues into "You're Off to See the Wizard".
The song occurs as a vocal three more times in the film soundtrack, along with several short instrumental references in the underscore: Although Jack Haley replaced Ebsen on-screen and in the Tin Man's solo recording of "If I Only Had a Heart", it was deemed unnecessary for the group vocal to be re-recorded, so the voice in the film as released remains Ebsen's.
In December 1972, Eugene Cernan sang the song on the surface of the Moon while hopping in lunar gravity.