"Iowa Stubborn" is a song by Meredith Willson from his 1957 musical The Music Man. The first sung number in the show (it is preceded by the innovative spoken “Rock Island”), it is a relaxed “soft-shoe” (or schottishe) sung by the citizens of River City, Iowa trying to convince Professor Hill to "give Iowa a try." Its lyrics convey their polite, reserved and stoic demeanor, as well as their special "chip on the shoulder attitude never been without that recall". For example:
- “We can be cold as our falling thermometers in December if you ask about our weather in July. And we're so by God stubborn we can stand touchin' noses for a week at a time, and never see Eye to Eye.”
Read more about Iowa Stubborn: Places Mentioned in The Song
Famous quotes containing the words iowa and/or stubborn:
“When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn’t come from anywhere else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education, where people wear three-piece suits and dark socks, often simultaneously.”
—Bill Bryson (b. 1951)
“Your beauty can but leave among us
Vague memories, nothing but memories.
A young man when the old men are done talking
Will say to an old man, “Tell me of that lady
The poet stubborn with his passion sang us
When age might well have chilled his blood.””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)