<P> The Oxford Companion to the American Musical wrote that the song has "cantor - like chanting", and is "the most revealing of the many character numbers". The Broadway Musical: A Critical and Musical Survey explained that the song contained the most number of Jewish "commonplaces" than any other number in the score; it added the song does twofold: it "offers such a strong dose of idiom early in the show (which) is good for the overall unity", and the "important dramatic function" of introducing the central character of Tevye through song . History of the Literary Cultures of East - Central Europe argues the song is based on a poem entitled "If I were Rothschild", in reference to a famous and wealthy Jewish entrepreneur . Leading Your Family to Water notes that given a wealthy existence, interestingly Tevye says he would use the time not spent working to "learn more about his faith". The Grammar Devotional likens the phrase "if I were a rich man" to the Cowardly Lion's "if I were king of the forest" in The Wizard of Oz in the context of imagining a scenario . The song is inspired by a Hasidic folk song . </P> <P> The song is broken into four verses, with a bridge between the third and fourth and a chorus sung at the beginning of the song, and after the second and fourth verses . </P> <P> Musically, it is written in a Jewish klezmer style . </P> <P> Through the first two verses, Tevye dreams of the material comforts that wealth would bring him . Sung boisterously and comedically, Tevye first considers the enormous house he would buy and the needless luxuries he would fill it with, including a third staircase "leading nowhere, just for show," then the poultry he would buy to fill his yard . </P>

Fiddler on the roof song if i were a rich man