It begins with a strike of a bell before the voice of a notorious witch curls through the air. It is a song of desire, kinship and, maybe most of all, possibility. When a coven of witches comes together to sing “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road,” they are all looking towards something–a certain future or a strengthening of powers. Songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez have created an epic folk tune that you cannot get out of your head.
As you unlock all of the mysterious throughout Marvel’s Agatha All Along, the more you realize how long ago this song was written. Songs become a part of us, and we sing them to ourselves whenever we need to conjure confidence or we simply remember them with fondness. They also can change significance as time goes on, and that’s proven when it’s revealed who wrote “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” in the context across this season. Lopez and Anderson-Lopez won their first Emmy for WandaVision’s “Agatha All Along,” and it’s incredible to see how their songwriting prowess lends itself to the importance of music within a series.
The song feels like it’s haunting us. Lopez and Anderson-Lopez reveal that they wrote the ’70s cover first in order to untangle some emotional beats baked into the music and lyrics. As the song builds and builds, the voices from the cast get more intense as the journey onto the Road begins to form. I wondered if the type of witch correlated to what voice part these characters sing within the harmonies. For instance, Patti LuPone’s Lilia Calderu sings a prominent high part, and Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha points to her a conjurer of air.
This songwriting pair felt the pressure to create a song that spans time and meaning, but whenever that bell tolls, you know some true magic is about to be revealed.
Agatha All Along is streaming now on Disney+.
