What are the lyrics to Meredith Wilson's "Iowa, It's a Beautiful Name"?

September 29, 2006 6:51 PM

"Iowa, It's a Beautiful Name" by (I think) Meredith Wilson. Does anybody know the lyrics or a songbook that contains it? It was published around the time of WWII. Thank You.
posted by davereed to media & arts (3 comments total)

His name is actually Meredith Willson. He's best known for The Music Man.

I've only been able to find a couple of references linking him to this song, though; the first just says he wrote a song with this title, and the second says some Iowa schoolkids sang it in 2003. The misspelled version ("Wilson") turned up two more unhelpful references you've probably already seen.

You might wind up needing to contact the school with the kids who sang it at least twice in 2003. It says the music teacher is Christy Trullinger, but I can't tell how long she's been there. Even if she's new, sheet music is likely to be kept lying around somewhere, especially since the area doesn't seem well-off.
posted by booksandlibretti at 7:52 PM on September 29, 2006

If you run out of angles, the State Library of Iowa's Ask a Librarian service will likely be able to track this down for you.
posted by jessamyn at 8:47 PM on September 29, 2006

Apparently, the official title of the song you're looking for is simply "Iowa" -- that's why it was hard to track down. Meredith Willson did indeed write it. (He wrote at least three other songs with titles starting with "Iowa," so searching for the right one is a little tricky.)

There's a piano/vocal/guitar songbook called Meredith Willson - The Music and the Man published by Hal Leonard that includes the music for "Iowa" (here's the songbook on Amazon).

For some background on the song: apparently, Willson wrote "Iowa" especially for an Armed Forces Radio Service program called Mail Call (not related to the current History Channel television show of the same name). Bing Crosby introduced and sang the song (backed by the Santa Anita OTC Band conducted by Skinnay Ennis) on show #73, which aired on January 12, 1944. This particular show was "a salute to the fighting men from the state of Iowa."

You can actually download an mp3 of Mail Call #73 from the Internet Archive and hear the song premiere -- on the IA page, scroll down for the file name called "Mail_Call_-_1944-01-12_073_Bing_Crosby_Dorothy_Lamour.mp3". Bing Crosby introduces Major Meredith Willson and they talk a little bit about the song at time index 12:34; "Iowa" starts at 13:38. The warbly sound quality of the source leaves a lot to be desired, but the melody/music is pretty distinguishable, and if you adjust the EQ, it's a little easier to listen to what's being said. (If you don't want to download the mp3, there's also a flash player at the top of the page where you can select the appropriate mp3.)

I couldn't clearly hear all of the lyrics, but here's the first part after the pre-chorus:

[..]
Iowa
It's a beautiful name
when you say it like we say it back home
It's a robin in the willow
It's a postmaster's friendly hello

Iowa
What a beautiful name
You'll remember it wherever you roam
[...]

Maybe you or someone else will be able to get everything -- I worked out most of the lyrics, but there were some words I couldn't quite hear. Let me know if you want me to post the rest. In any case, the songbook should provide the full lyrics.
posted by macguffin at 1:50 AM on September 30, 2006