Lyrics Overture / Rock Island / Iowa Stubborn - Ray Heindorf & His Orchestra

All aboard!
Credit is no good for an ocean salesman...
Where are you going, friend?
Wherever the people are as green as the money...'friend.'
What's the matter with credit?
It's old-fashioned.
Charlie, you're an anvil salesman; your firm give credit?
No, Sir!
Nor anybody else!
River city! Next station stop: River City, Iowa!
Cash for the merchandise,
Cash for the button hooks
Cash for the cotton goods,
Cash for the hard goods
Cash for the fancy goods
Cash for the noggins and the piggins and the frikins
Cash for the hogshead, cask and demijohn.
Cash for the crackers and the pickels and the flypaper
Look whatayatalk...?
Weredayagitit?
Whatayatalk?
Ya can talk, ya can talk,
Ya can bicker ya can talk,
Ya can bicker, bicker bicker ya can talk, ya can talk
Ya can talk, talk, talk,
Ya can bicker, bicker, bicker
Ya can talk all ya wanna
But it's different than it was.
No it ain't, no it ain't,
But ya gotta know the territory.
Shh shh shh shh shh shh shh
Why it's the Model T Ford made the trouble,
Made the people wanna go, wanna get, wanna get
Wanna get up and go
Seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fourteen, twent-two,
Twenty-three miles to the county seat
Yes sir, yes sir
Who's gonna patronize a little bitty two by four kinda store anymore?
Whaddaya talk, whaddaya talk?
Where do you get it?
Gone, gone
Gone with the hogshead cask and demijohn,
Gone with the sugar barrel, pickel barrel, milk pan,
Gone with the tub and the pail and the fierce
Ver meet a fellow by the name of Hill?
Hill? Hill? Hill?...
NO!
Just a minute, just a minute, just a minute!
Never heard of any salesman Hill
Now he dosen't know the territory
Dosen't know the territory?!?
Whats the fellows line?
Never worries 'bout his line
Never worries 'bout his line?!?
Or a doggone thing.
He's just a bang beat, bell ringing, Big haul,
Great go, neck or nothin, rip roarin,
Every time a bull's eye salesman.
Thats Professor Harold Hill, Harold Hill
What's the fellows line?
Whats his line?
He's a fake, and he dosen't know the territory!
Look, whaddayatalk, whaddayatalk, whaddayatalk, whaddayatalk?
He's a music man
He's a what? He's a what?
He's a music man and he sells clarinets
To the kids in the town
With the big trombones and the rat-a-tat drums,
Big brass bass, big brass bass,
And the piccolo, the piccolo with uniforms, too
With a shiny gold braid on the coat
And a big red stripe runnin .. .
Well, I don't know much about bands
But I do know you can't make a living
Selling big trombones, no sir.
Mandolin picks, perhaps
And here and there a Jew's harp ...
No, the fellow sells bands, Boys bands.
I don't know how he does it but he lives like a king
And he dallies and he gathers and he plucks and shines
And when the man dances, certinely boys, what else?
The piper pays him!
Yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir,
When the man dances, certinely boys, what else?
The piper pays him!
Yessssir, Yessssir
But he dosen't know the territory!
River City! Station stop: River City!
Oh, there's nothing halfway
About the Iowa way to treat you,
When we treat you
Which we may not do at all.
There's an Iowa kind of special
Chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.
We've never been without.
That we recall.
We can be cold
As our falling thermometer in December
If you ask about the weather in July.
And we're so by God stubborn
We could stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.
But what the heck, you're welcome,
Join us at the picnic.
You can eat your fill
Of all the food you bring yourself.
You really ought to give Iowa a try.
Provided you are contrary,
We can be cold
As our falling thermometer 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.
But we'll give you our shirt
And a back to go with it
If your crop should happen to die.
So, what the heck, you're welcome,
Glad to have you with us.
Even though we may not ever mention it again.
You really ought to give Iowa
Hawkeye Iowa
Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Marshalltown,
Mason City, Keokuk, Ames, Clear Lake
Ought to give Iowa a try!