Here On Who Lyrics
Here On Who
MAYORWell,
We're who's here.
We are Whos here.
Smaller than the eye can see.
It's true, sir.
We're who's who, sir.
I'm a Who and so is she.
MAYOR & MRS. MAYOR
We're tiny little people
Blowing by in the air,
Wondering how and why
We're on Who,
The ti-iniest
Planet in the sky!
(The entire WHO population is revealed.
HORTON listens intently and reacts throughout the entire song as the WHOS tell him their story)
WHOS
A-ladela-deladela who who
A-ladela-deladela who
TWO WHO SOPRANOS
Who!
WHOS
A-ladela-deladela who who
A-ladela-dela...
We're Whos here,
Win or lose here,
Struggling to stay alive.
Each gust pro-
Pels our dust. Oh,
How the heck
Do Whos survive?
At any given moment
We could crash or be drowned,
Hitting the ground, oh my!
Here on who,
The ti-iniest
Planet in the sky
(Calliope-like)
WHO MEN WHO WOMEN
Who! Who! Who! Who!
MAYOR
I'm the mayor.
WHO MEN WHO WOMEN
Who! Who! Who! Who!
MRS. MAYOR
I'm his wife.
WHO MEN WHO WOMEN
Who! Who! Who! Who!
MAYOR & MRS. MAYOR
Just imagine the Whos' unusual life!
WHO FAMILY #1
Picture the tiniest houses and grocery stores.
WHO WOMEN
Who...
WHO FAMILY #2
Tiny umbrellas that drip on the tiniest floors.
WHO MEN
Who...
WHO FAMILY #3
The tiniest tunnels and tiniest streets.
WHO FAMILY #4
Miniature buses with miniature seats.
WHO FAMILY #5
Miniature buildings with miniature windows and doors!
HORTON
No smaller town than yours
(The WHO MARCHING BAND enters.)
WHOS
We've got a marching band
That is small but grand
Oh, you ought to hear them wail!
(The BAND plays on strange instruments)
WHOS
Who! Who! Who!
Every Christmastime, without fail,
Mr. Grinch presents his Christmas tale!
(The GRINCH appears and the WHOS gather around him)
GRINCH
I re-enact my Christmas tale!
(He begins to declaim)
Every who down in Whoville
Liked Christmas a lot...
But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville
Did not!
(The WHOS applaud with delight)
MAYOR
Imagine a place that is tidy
And totally clean,
WHOS
Who...
GRINCH
Where even a Grinch wouldn't dare to be totally mean!
WHOS
Who...
MAYOR
You think that it's heaven on earth
Yes, you do!
But heaven on earth isn't heaven on Who!
WHOS
Troubles on Who
Are the biggest that you've ever seen.
MAYOR
We're on the brink of war, they say
ALL WHOS
We're going to war, and oh my!
MAYOR
'Cause if we do, then here on Who
WHOS
Well, you can kiss Whoville goodbye!
MAYOR
Our skies are unbearably dark
MRS. MAYOR
And war is unbearably near...
MAYOR
And that's not the end of our troubles
Here...
ALL WHOS
For on the other side of town
The Truffula trees were all cut down.
They once stood tall, in all their glory-
But that's another story...
So here on who
We live in fear.
We're drifting through space
And cannot steer!
A troubled and a tiny land ...
Our future's in your hand ...
(They move closer, appealing to the listening HORTON.)
It's up to
You, sir.
Please help Who, sir.
You're the only one who hears.
You must, sir! MAYOR & MRS. MAYOR
Save our dust, sir! Save our dust, sir!
Now that we have reached
Your ears!
We're tiny little people
Saying thanks in advance
Hoping perchance, you'll try!
Here on Who,
The ti-iniest
Planet in the sky...
(HORTON listens to the clover with great seriousness.)
HORTON
I won't let you down.
No, I won't let you fall.
A person's a person
No matter how small.
A person's a person
No matter how small.
WHOS
Whoooo!
(The WHOS begin to recede.)
WHOS (mysterious)
Who Who...
(Light comes up on the CAT.)
CAT
An invisible world. Amazing but true.
We'll leave Horton to listen, and we'll zoom in on Who.
But guess who enters the story now?
BOY
Who?
CAT
You!
MR. MAYOR
Meet a tiny Who family on a small rainy day.
MRS. MAYOR
Mom and Dad are just home from the Who PTA.
CAT
And here's their son JoJo!
(To THE BOY'S surprise, THE CAT pushes him into the scene,
and he becomes a character in the story.
From now on, we will call him JOJO.
He is now with his parents, MR. MAYOR and MRS. MAYOR.)
MRS. MAYOR
In trouble again!
MR. and MRS. MAYOR, CAT
'Cause his Thinks take him places where no one has been.
(JOJO's parents begin to scold him. THE CAT reacts with guilty amusement.
We can see he's the one who got JOJO into trouble!
JOJO can see THE CAT, but his parents can't.)
MR. MAYOR
I'm the mayor of Who. Why I've just been elected.
And upright behavior is thus forth expected.
MRS. MAYOR
But we've just had a talk with your teachers today
And they didn't have one single good thing to say
MR. MAYOR
You invented new Thinks which defy all description!
MRS. MAYOR
You gave Miss O'Dooley a nervous conniption!
MR. MAYOR
Your Thinks were so wild they disrupted your classes
And made Mrs. Mackel-Who drop her new glasses.
Which is why you're suspended! Yes, that's what they said!
Young man, what in Who has got into your head?!
JOJO
I...um...
(JOJO looks to the CAT for help, but the CAT makes it clear he's on his own)
MR. MAYOR
Now Horton has found us. We're safe on a clover.
But clearly our troubles are far, far from over.
MRS. MAYOR
We don't mean to scold you.
We love you, oh, yes, dear.
But couldn't you try thinking just a bit less, dear?
MR. MAYOR
Stop telling such outlandish tales.
MRS. MAYOR
Stop turning minnows into whales.
MR. MAYOR
Now take your bath and go to bed.
MR. & MRS. MAYOR
And think some normal thinks instead.
(PARENTS exit, leaving JOJO alone to take his bath. He turns accusingly to THE CAT.)
JOJO
You got me in trouble!
Get out! Go away!
CAT
All right, I'll be going.
But first, let me say
Song Overview
Review and Highlights
Placed early in Act I, “Here on Who” snaps the world of Whoville into focus with brisk patter, Sousa-tinged march rhythms, and antiphonal crowd writing that lets the Mayor and Mrs. Mayor volley worries while Horton listens in. On the Original Broadway Cast album, you hear the tight pit-band snap under the choral “who-who” refrains and the comic cutaways for the Grinch, which telegraph Seussical’s collage style. The album track available from the official cast playlist confirms the cut’s sequencing and performers.
Stylistically, Ahrens + Flaherty’s score leans into a grab-bag of Broadway idioms - from ballad warmth to Motown pulse to John Philip Sousa strut - and this number sits squarely in that last lane, with parade snare and buoyant woodwind chatter shaping the bustle.
Creation History
Music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; orchestrations for the Broadway production by Doug Besterman. The commercial cast album was recorded in December 2000, produced by Phil Ramone, and issued by Decca Broadway/UMG in early 2001. Physical retail listings and Playbill’s season roundups place the street date on February 6, 2001, with Apple Music and other platforms showing a 2001 UMG release.
Onstage, the original staging used a clever visual reveal: a giant magnifying glass descended from the flies to “show” Whoville while the Cat mirrored the gag with a handheld lens at Horton’s clover.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
The Mayor and Mrs. Mayor introduce Horton - and us - to a community in crisis. Whoville is tiny, airborne, and vulnerable. The Whos brag about their miniature parades, grocery stores, and civic pride, but fear storms, crashes, and a looming war. A Grinch cameo reframes his famous tale as an annual, good-humored pageant, and a Lorax aside hints at felled Truffula trees. Horton makes the song’s moral pivot: he’ll protect them because a person is a person, no matter how small. The main cast list for the number includes the Mayor, Mrs. Mayor, the Grinch, Horton, and the Whos, matching published show materials.
Song Meaning
Under the whimsy, the piece argues for stewardship and scale-aware empathy. It’s a civic anthem disguised as a town-tour patter song. The Who-world names specific threats - militarism and ecological damage - while Horton’s credo anchors the musical’s ethic of care. Junior and youth editions often trim or reshape these references, but this original cut makes them central.
Annotations
“Then he heard it again, calling over and over. So he tried to think WHO might be down on that clover!”
“The original production featured a giant magnifying glass swooping down from the flys to reveal Whoville...”
“Every Who down in Whoville... Did not”
“We’re on the brink of war...” ? Butter Battles over bread orientation.
“The Truffula trees were all cut down.”
“But that’s another story...”
Rhythm and style
The engine is a buoyant march feel - think Sousa parade filtered through Broadway chorus writing - with quick interior rhymes and responsive crowd vocals. That “A-ladela-deladela” riff works like a rhythmic glue between straight-laced municipal pride and rising panic.
Emotional arc
It starts chipper - tiny umbrellas, tinier floors - then tilts toward dread as war talk and environmental loss creep in. Horton’s promise steadies the frame, planting the score’s central maxim for later reprises.
Cultural touchpoints
The lyric braids in the Dr. Seuss multiverse: Grinch as community theater tradition, Butter Battle Book as allegory, and Lorax as ecological conscience. These links are explicitly flagged in show summaries and song lists.
Key Facts
- Artist: Stephen Flaherty, Anthony Blair Hall, Kevin Chamberlin (Original Broadway cast performance on album includes Stuart Zagnit and Alice Playten as the Mayor and Mrs. Mayor)
- Composer: Stephen Flaherty
- Lyricist: Lynn Ahrens
- Producer (album): Phil Ramone
- Release Date (album): February 6, 2001
- Album: Seussical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
- Label: Decca Broadway / Universal Classics Group
- Recording date (album session): December 18, 2000
- Genre: Stage musical - Broadway march/patter hybrid
- Language: English
- Music style: Parade-march pulse, call-and-response ensemble writing
Refs:
Questions and Answers
- When did Stephen Flaherty release “Here on Who”?
- As part of the Original Broadway Cast album for Seussical, released February 6, 2001 on Decca Broadway/UMG.
- Who wrote “Here on Who”?
- Music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; the Broadway production featured orchestrations by Doug Besterman.
- Who sings it on the cast album?
- Primarily the Mayor and Mrs. Mayor with company - on Broadway those roles were Stuart Zagnit and Alice Playten, alongside Kevin Chamberlin as Horton.
- Was “Here on Who” ever released as a single?
- No - it appears as an album cut on the 28-track Original Broadway Cast recording; no standalone single release is documented.
- Which Seuss stories thread through this song?
- Horton Hears a Who! frames the scene; the lyric nods to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Butter Battle Book, and The Lorax.
Awards and Chart Positions
The track itself did not chart or receive individual awards. The Broadway production, however, earned a 2001 Tony nomination for Kevin Chamberlin (Best Actor in a Musical) and multiple Drama Desk nominations during its run.
Additional Info
Two performance-edition notes shape how “Here on Who” plays. In the Junior adaptation, the Grinch’s extended bit gets cut, leaving a single line - a practical tweak that tightens pacing for youth productions. And before Broadway, a lengthy Lorax sequence lived in the show; after Boston it was excised to lighten an already long evening, with the Lorax idea preserved only as a quick lyrical aside.
If you’re cataloging recordings, the official YouTube “Topic” upload confirms the album track and gives you a clean reference thumbnail - useful for production decks and program notes.