If I Only Had The Nerve

Album: The Wizard Of Oz Soundtrack (1939)
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Songfacts®:

  • This short song written in 4/4 time has lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and music by Harold Arlen. It appears in The Wizard Of Oz where it is sung by the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr in the film), and is included in a medley with "We're Off To See The Wizard." Although the song itself is not that memorable, it has found its way into the Movie Mistakes on-line database because during its performance, "You can see the cameraman's shadow pass over Dorothy, the Lion, and then the log on the side of the road. Watch carefully, it comes back."

    This is, apparently, one of no less than 304 mistakes in the same film!
  • There are two variants on this song, "If I Only Had A Heart" and "If I Only Had A Brain," which are sung by the Tin Man and the Scarecrow respectively. Although they are in essence the same song with fairly minor variations of the words, and appear in the same film, they are generally classified as different songs, and have been covered as such by various artists over the years. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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