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A Brand New Day or Everyone Rejoice, is performed in The Wiz from the original musical, then in the film and TV adaptation. The song was written by famed singer and composer, Luther Vandross.

After Evillene is liqudated, Dorothy and her friends rejoice with the newly freed Winkies while singing this song expressing how rejoiceful  they are after being freed from the witch's bondages.

This song was a replacement for the narration from a reading of passages from the book:

"There was great rejoicing among the yellow Winkies, for they had been made to work hard during many years for the Wicked Witch, who had always treated them with great cruelty. They kept this day as a holiday, then and ever after, and spent the time in feasting and dancing,"

As well as a quote from The Wizard of Oz said by one of the Winkie soldiers: "Hail to Dorothy! The Wicked Witch is dead!"

A Brand New Day Lyrics[]

  • Everybody look around
  • 'Cause there's a reason to rejoice you see
  • Everybody come out
  • And let's commence to singing joyfully
  • Everybody look up
  • And feel the hope that we've been waiting for
  • Everybody's glad
  • Because our silent fear and dread is gone
  • Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
  • Just look about
  • You owe it to yourself to check it out
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Everybody be glad
  • Because the sun is shining just for us
  • Everybody wake up
  • Into the morning into happiness
  • Hello world
  • It's like a different way of living now
  • And thank you world
  • We always knew that we'd be free somehow
  • In harmony
  • And show the world that we've got liberty
  • It's such a change
  • For us to live so independently
  • Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
  • Just look about
  • You owe it to yourself to check it out
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Everybody be glad
  • Because the sun is shining just for us
  • Everybody wake up
  • Into the morning into happiness
  • Hello world
  • It's like a different way of living now
  • And thank you world
  • We always knew that we'd be free somehow
  • In harmony
  • And show the world that we've got liberty
  • It's such a change
  • For us to live so independently
  • Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
  • Just look about
  • You owe it to yourself to check it out
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!
  • Can't you feel a brand new day?!

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • In the movie, Luther Vandross himself sings the first lyrics of the song, Vandross' line was to represent one of the Winkies singing and dancing on a table while throwing up an item in the film.
  • Some critics interpret Dorothy and her friends singing about the joy of freedom and "A Brand New Day" as a metaphor for Americans of different races ( particularly African Americans) gaining equal rights and freedoms.
    • In the onscreen version of the song, Nipsey Russell, who played the Tin Man, can even be heard exclaiming "Free at last!"—a reference to civil rights activist/leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • The cast of The Wiz Live! performed this song at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade one week before the musical's premiere telecast.
  • Parts of Michael Jackson and Nipsey Russell's impromptu addition to the song are altered on the soundtrack album version, instead replaced by sung vocals by Diana Ross.
  • The film version was released as a single in some continental European countries and peaked at #1 in Belgium and The Netherlands, credited to The Wiz Stars featuring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

Videos[]


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