Oz Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Obc glinda

Good news!

"No One Mourns the Wicked" is the opening song in the Broadway musical Wicked. "No One Mourns the Wicked" eventually becomes a musical motif throughout Wicked, but is introduced in its main form as the show's prologue. Following the overture, the citizens of Oz (mostly Munchkins) emerge, joyously celebrating the death (by aparrent melting during the thirteenth hour) of the Wicked Witch of the West. The song introduces the audience to the character of Glinda, who appears to be celebrating her death along with the others. However, her verses of the song seem to be an attempt to create sympathy toward the Witch:

"And Goodness knows

The Wicked's lives are lonely

Goodness knows

The Wicked die alone

It just shows when you're Wicked

You're left only

On your own..."

(this is most likely to show her capacity as "good" as opposed to actually publicly defending the Witch). It is here that Glinda poses the question, "Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?" She takes the audience through a flashback to the

Witch's birth, showing how she was conceived illegitimately, born green-skinned (after her mother drank a potion simply called "Green Elixir"), and consequently rejected by her father and cursed to a difficult childhood. The main events of the show occur through another flashback immediately following this song's conclusion.

The song is reprised in several parts during the show, including the act one finale, "Defying Gravity" (Look at her, she's Wicked, get her! No One Mourns the Wicked! So we've got to bring her... Down!) and the entr'acte. It is also briefly sung in the show's finale, as the show's ending occurs chronologically at about the same time as its opening.

The opening few notes of the song are also repeated at the beginning of As Long As You're Mine and after Elphaba sings "Fiyero" for the second time in No Good Deed. Also the tune for this song is played and sung at the beginning of Thank Goodness.

Note that at no time during the song or the play does Glinda ever actually say "No one mourns the wicked" implying that she does mourn Elphaba and does not believe she was ever Wicked. Also none of her lyrics clarify who the "Wicked" is, meaning that she could very well be implying the "Wicked" that she is glad to have gone is The Wizard or Madame Morrible, in fact the only time she ever clarifies the conversation is when trying to convince the Ozians to sympathize for Elphaba by explaining her back-story. On top of which Glinda truthfully answers the question asked at the end of the number by saying Elphaba was her friend, and it seems the only reason she was trying to get around it was the fact that she didn't want to get hurt. All of this showing that Glinda isn't completely in her act of "No One Mourns the Wicked" because in her case and the case of many others there is a comma inserted in that phrase. Turning her viewpoint into "No, One Mourns The Wicked"

Lyrics[]

Citizens of Oz:
Good news!
She's dead!
The Witch of the West is dead!
The wickedest witch there ever was
The enemy of all of us here in Oz is dead!
Good news!
Good news!

Someone in Crowd:
Look! It's Glinda!

Glinda:
(spoken) Fellow Ozians...
Let us be glad
Let us be grateful
Let us rejoicify that goodness could subdue
The wicked workings of you-know-who
Isn't it nice to know?
That good will conquer evil?
The truth we all believe'll by and by
Outlive a lie
For you and--

Someone in the Crowd:
No one mourns the Wicked!

Another Person:
No one cries: "They won't return!"

All:
No one lays a lily on their grave

Man:
The good man scorns the Wicked!

Women:

Through their lives, our children learn

All:

What we miss
When we misbehave

Glinda:
And goodness knows
The Wicked's lives are lonely
Goodness knows
The Wicked die alone
It just shows, when you're wicked,
You're left only
On your own...

All:
Yes, goodness knows
The Wicked's lives are lonely
Goodness knows
The Wicked cry alone
Nothing grows for the wicked
They reap only
What they've sown

Glinda (spoken):
Are people born Wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them?
After all, she had a father. She had a mother, as so many do...

Father:
How I hate to go and leave you lonely

Mother:
That's alright - it's only just one night

Father:
But know that you're here in my heart while I'm out of your sight

Glinda (spoken):
And like every family, they had their secrets.

Lover:
Have another drink, my dark eyed beauty
I've got one more night left, here in town
So have another drink of green elixir
And we'll have ourselves a little mixer
Have another little swallow, little lady
And follow me down

Glinda (spoken):
And of course, from the moment she was born, she was - well - different...

Midwife:
It's coming!

Father:
Now?

Midwife:
The baby's coming!

Father:
And how?

Midwife and Father:
I see a nose
I see a curl
It's a healthy, perfect
Lovely, little -

Father (spoken):
Sweet Oz!

Mother (spoken):
What is it? What's wrong?

Midwife:
How can it be?

Father:
What does it mean?

Midwife:
It's atrocious!

Father:
It's obscene!

Midwife and Father:
Like a froggy, ferny cabbage
The baby is unnaturally -

All:
GREEN!

Father (spoken):
Take it away... take it away!

Glinda (spoken):
So you see - it couldn't have been easy!

All:
No one mourns the Wicked!
Now at last, she's dead and gone!
Now at last, there's joy throughout the land
And Goodness knows
We know what Goodness is
Goodness knows
The Wicked die alone

Glinda:
She died alone...

All:
Woe to those
Who spurn what Goodness is
They are shown
No one mourns the Wicked

Glinda:
Good news!

Crowd:
No one mourns the Wicked!

Glinda:
Good news!

All:

No one mourns the Wicked!
Wicked!
Wicked!

Advertisement