Iowa Stubborn

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"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. Its lyrics convey their polite, reserved and stoic demeanor, as well as their special "chip on the shoulder attitude [they've] never been without that [they] 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.”

[edit] Places mentioned in the song

Nine Iowa municipalities are named near the conclusion of the song, in the following order:

1. Hawkeye
2. Dubuque
3. Des Moines
4. Davenport
5. Marshalltown
6. Mason City (Willson’s birthplace)
7. Keokuk
8. Ames
9. Clear Lake