Lyrics for the album "The Music Man" by Musical

Rock Island
Iowa Stubborn
Ya Got Trouble
Piano Lesson
Sincere
The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl For Me
Marian the Librarian
Will I Ever Tell You
Seventy-Six Trombones
Till There Was You
Gary, Indiana
Shi-Poo-Pi
Goodnight, My Someone
It's You
Lida Rose
My White Knight
Wells Fargo Wagon
Music: Meredith Willson Lyrics: Meredith Willson Book: Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey Premiere: Thursday, December 19, 1957


Rock Island

1st salesman: Cash for the merchandise, cash for the button hooks
3rd salesman: Cash for the cotton goods, csh for the hard goods
1st Salesman: Cash for the fancy goods
2nd salesman: cash for the noggins and the piggins and the frikins
3rd Salesman: Cash for the hogshead, cask and demijohn. Cash for the crackers and the pickels and the flypaper
4th Salesman: Look whatayatalk. whatayatalk, whatayatalk, whatayataalk, whatayatalk?
5th Salesman: Weredayagitit?
4th Salesman: Whatayatalk?
1st Salesman: Ya can talk, ya can talk, ya can bicker ya can talk, ya can bicker, bicker bicker ya can talk all ya want
but is different than it was
Charlie: No it ain't, no it ain't, but ya gotta know the territory
Rail car: Shh shh shh shh shh shh shh
3rd Salesman: Why it's the Model T Ford made the trouble, made the people wanna go, wanna get, wanna get up and go
seven eight , nine, ten, twelve, fourteen, twent-two, twenty-three miles to the county seat
1st Salesman: Yes sir, yes sir
3rd Salesman: Who's gonna patronize a little bitty two by four kinda store anymore?
4th Salesman: Whaddaya talk, whaddaya talk
5th Salesman: Where do you get it?
3rd Salesman: Gone, gone
Gone with the hogshead cask and demijohn, gone with the sugar barrel, pickle barrel, milk pan, gone with the tub and
the pail and the fierce
2nd Salesman: Ever meet a fellow by the name of Hill?
1st Salesman: Hill?
Charlie: Hill?
3rd Salesman: Hill?
4th Salesman: Hill?
1st Newspaper Hill?
2nd Newspaper: Hill?
5th Salesman: Hill?
2nd Salesman: Hill?
All but Charlie and 2nd Salesman: NO!
4th Salesman: Never heard of any salesman Hill
2nd Salesman: Now he doesn't know the territory
1st Salesman: Doesn't know the territory?!?
3rd Salesman: Whats the fellows line?
2nd Salesman: Never worries bout his line
1st Salesman: Never worries bout his line?!?
2nd Salesman: 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. That's Professor Harold Hill, Harold Hill
3rd Salesman: What's the fellows line?
5th Salesman: What's his line?
Charlie: He's a fake, and he doesn't know the territory!
4th Salesman: Look, whaddayatalk, whaddayatalk, whaddayatalk, whaddaystalk?
2nd Saleman: He's a music man
1st Salesman: He's a what?
3rd Salesman: He's a what?
2nd Salesman: 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' . . .
1st Salesman: 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 ..
2nd Salesman: 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, certainly boys, what else? The piper pays him! Yes sir ,yes
sir,yes sir, yes sir, when the man dances, certainly boys, what else? The piper pays him! Yessssir, Yessssir
Charlie: But he doesn't know the territory!




Iowa Stubborn

Townspeople:
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 thermometers in December
If you ask about our 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 crops should happen to die

Farmer:
So, what the heck, you're welcome,
Glad to have you with us

Farmer and Wife:
Even though we may not ever mention it again

Townspeople:
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!




Ya Got Trouble

Harold:
Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City
Why sure I'm a billiard player,
Certainly mighty proud I say
I'm always mighty proud to say it
I consider that the hours I spend
With a cue in my hand are golden
Help you cultivate horse sense
And a cool head and a keen eye
Never take and try to give
An iron-clad leave to yourself
From a three-reail billiard shot?
But just as I say,
It takes judgement, brains, and maturity to score
In a balkline game,
I say that any boob kin take
And shove a ball in a pocket
And they call that sloth
The first big step on the road
To the depths of deg-ra-Day--
I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon,
Then beer from a bottle
An' the next thing ya know,
Your son is playin' for money
In a pinch-back suit
And list'nin to some big out-a-town Jasper
Hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'
Not a wholesome trottin' race, no!
But a race where they set down right on the horse!
Like to see some stuck-up jockey'boy
Sittin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil?
Well, I should say
Friends, lemme tell you what I mean
Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table
Pockets that mark the diff'rence
Between a gentlemen and a bum,
With a capital "B,"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
And all week long your River City
Youth'll be frittern away,
I say your young men'll be frittern!
Frittern away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!
Get the ball in the pocket,
Never mind gittin' Dandelions pulled
Or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded
Never mind pumpin' any water
'Til your parents are caught with the Cistern empty
On a Saturday night and that's trouble,
Oh, yes we got lots and lots a' trouble
I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers,
Shirt-tail young ones, peekin' in the pool
Hall window after school, look, folks!
Right here in River City
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
Now, I know all you folks are the right kinda parents
I'm gonna be perfectly frank
Would ya like to know what kinda conversation goes
On while they're loafin' around that Hall?
They're tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs,
Tryin' out Tailor Mades like Cigarette Feends!
And braggin' all about
How they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen
One fine night, they leave the pool hall,
Headin' for the dance at the Arm'ry!
Libertine men and Scarlet women!
And Rag-time, shameless music
That'll grab your son and your daughter
With the arms of a jungle animal instink!
Mass-staria!
Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground!

People:
Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool,
That stands for pool
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City,
Right here!
Gotta figger out a way
To keep the young ones moral after school!
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble

Harold:
Mothers of River City!
Heed the warning before it's too late!
Watch for the tell-tale sign of corruption!
The moment your son leaves the house,
Does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?
Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?
A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?
Is he starting to memorize jokes from Capt
Billy's Whiz Bang?
Are certain words creeping into his conversation?
Words like 'swell?"
And 'so's your old man?"
Well, if so my friends,
Ya got trouble,
Right here in River city!
With a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City!
Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule!
Oh, we've got trouble
We're in terrible, terrible trouble
That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool!
Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble!
With a "T"! Gotta rhyme it with "P"!
And that stands for Pool!!!




Piano Lesson

Marian:
Mama, a man with a suitcase followed me home

Mrs. Paroo:
Oh--Who?

Marian:
I never saw him before

Mrs. Paroo:
Did he say anythin'?

Marian:
He tried

Mrs. Paroo:
Did you say anythin'?

Marian:
Of course not, Mama!
Now don't dawdle, Amaryllis
So do la ti mi,
A little slower and please
Keep the fingers curved as nice
And as high as you possibly can
Don't get faster,

Mrs. Paroo:
If you don't mind my sayin' so,
It wouldn't have hurt you
To find out what the gentleman wanted

Marian:
I know what the gentleman wanted

Mrs. Paroo:
What, dear?

Marian:
You'll find it in Balzac

Mrs. Paroo:
Excuse me fer livin' but I never read it

Marian:
Neither has anyone else in this town

Mrs. Paroo:
There you go again with the same old comment
About the low mentality of River City people,
And takin' it all too much to heart

Marian:
Now, Mama,
As long as the Madison Public Library was entrusted
To me for the purpose of improving River City's cultural level,
I can't help my concern that the Ladies of River City
Keep ignoring all my counsel and advice

Mrs. Paroo:
But, darlin'--when a woman has a husband
And you've got none,
Why should she take advice from you?
Even if you can quote Balzac and Shakespeare
And all them other highfalutin' Greeks

Marian:
Momma, if you don't mind my sayin' so,
You have a bad habit of changin' ev'ry subject--

Mrs. Paroo:
Well, I haven't changed the subject!
I was talking about that stranger--

Marian:
What stranger?

Mrs. Paroo:
With the suitcase who may be your very last chance

Marian:
Mama!
Do you think that I'd allow a common masher--
Now, really Mama!
I have my standards where men are concerned,
And I have no intention--

Mrs. Paroo:
I know all about your standards
And if you don't mind my sayin' so
There's not a man alive
Who could hope to measure up to that blend'a
Paul Bunyan, Saint Pat and Noah Webster
You've got concocted for yourself outta your Irish imagination,
Your Iowa stubbornness, and your liberry fulla' books!




Sincere

Quartet:
How can there be any sin in sincere
Where is the good in goodbye?
Your apprehensions confuse me dear
Puzzle and mystify (Mystify)
Tell me what can be fair in farewell, dear
While one single star shines above
How can there be any sin in sincere?
Aren't we sincerely in love?
Oh, we're in love!





The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl For Me

Harold:
No wide-eyed, eager,
Wholesome innocent Sunday school teacher for me
That kinda girl spins webs no spider ever--
Listen, boy--
A girl who trades on all that purity
Merely wants to trade my independence for her security
The only affirmative she will file
Refers to marching down the aisle
No golden, glorious, gleaming pristine goddess--
No sir!
For no Diana do I play faun
I can tell you that right now
I snarl, I hiss: How can ignorance be compared to bliss?
I spark, I fizz for the lady who knows what time it is
I cheer, I rave for the virtue I'm too late to save
The sadder-but-wiser girl for me
No bright-eyed, blushing, breathless baby-doll baby
Not for me
That kinda child ties knots no sailor ever knew
I prefer to take a chance on a more adult romance
No dewy young miss
Who keeps resisting all the time she keeps insisting!
No wide-eyed, wholesome innocent female
No sir
Why, she's the fisherman, I'm the fish you see?--PLOP!
I flinch, I shy, when the lass with the delicate air goes by
I smile, I grin, when the gal with a touch of sin walks in
I hope, and I pray, for a Hester to win just one more "A"
The sadder-but-wiser girl's the girl for me
The sadder-but-wiser girl for me




Marian the Librarian

Harold:
Marian...Madam Librarian
What can I say, my dear, to catch your ear I love you madly, madly
Madam Librarian..
Marian Heaven help us if the library caught on fire
And the Volunteer Hose Brigademen
Had to whisper the news to Marian..
Madam Librarian
What can I say, my dear, to make it clear I need you badly, badly,
Madam Librarian..
Marian If I stumbled and I busted my what-you-may-call-it
I could lie on your floor unnoticed
'Till my body had turned to carrion...Madam Librarian

Now in the moonlight, a man could sing it In the moonlight
And a fellow would know that his darling
Had heard ev'ry word of his song With the moonlight helping along

But when I try in here to tell you, dear
I love you madly, madly,
Madam Librarian...Marian!
It's a long lost cause I can never win
For the civilized world accepts as unforgivable sin
Any talking out loud with any librarian Such as Marian..
Madam Librarian




Will I Ever Tell You

Marian:
Dream of now, dream of then
Dream of a love song that might have been
Do I love you?
Oh, yes, I love you
And I'll bravely tell you
But only when we dream again
Sweet and low, sweet and low,
How sweet that mem'ry how long ago
Forever?
Oh, yes forever
Will I ever tell you?
Ah-- no





Seventy-Six Trombones

Harold:
Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuo-
Sos, the cream of ev'ry famous band

Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind
There were more than a thousand reeds
Springing up like weeds
There were horns of ev'ry shape and kind

There were copper bottom tympani in horse platoons
Thundering, thundering all along the way
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons,
Each bassoon having its big, fat say!

There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery
Thundering, thundering louder than before
Clarinets of ev'ry size
And trumpeters who'd improvise
A full octave higher than the score!






Till There Was You

Marian:
There were bells on the hill
But I never heard them ringing,
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you

And there was music,
And there were wonderful roses,
They tell me,
In sweet fragrant meadows of dawn, and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you!







Gary, Indiana

Harold:
Gary, Indiana!
What a wonderful name,
Named for Elbert Gary of judiciary fame
Gary, Indiana, as a Shakespeare would say,
Trips along softly on the tongue this way--
Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary, Indiana,
Let me say it once again
Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana,
That's the town that "knew me when."
If you'd like to have a logical explanation
How I happened on this elegant syncopation,
I will say without a moment of hesitation
There is just one place
That can light my face
Gary, Indiana,
Gary Indiana,
Not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome, but--
Gary, Indiana,
Gary, Indiana,
Gary Indiana,
My home sweet home




Shi-Poo-Pi

Marcellus:
Well a woman who'll kiss on the very first date
Is usually a hussy
And a woman who'll kiss on the second time out
Is anything but fussy
But a woman who waits 'til the third time around,
Head in the clouds, feet on the ground!
She's the girl he's glad he's found--she's his
Shi-Poo-Pi! Shi-Poo-Pi! Shi-Poo-Pi! Shi-Poo-Pi!

Boys:
The girl who's hard to get!

Marcellus:
Shi-Poo-Pi!
Shi-Poo-Pi
Shi-Poo-Pi

Girls:
But you can win her yet

Marcellus::
Walk her once just to raise the curtain,
Walk around twice and you make for certain
Once more in the flower garden,
She will never get sore
If you beg her pardon

All:
Do re me fa so la si
Do si la sol fa mi re do

Marcellus:
Squeeze her once when she isn't lookin',
If you get a squeeze back, that's fancy cookin',
Once more for a pepper-upper,
She will never get sore on her way to supper

All:
Do re me fa sol la si
Do si do

Marcellus:
Shi-Poo-Pi!
Shi-Poo-Pi!
Shi-Poo-Pi!

Boys:
The girl who's hard to get

Marcellus:
Shi-Poo-Pi!
Shi-Poo-Pi!
Shi-Poo-Pi!

Girls:
But you can win her yet

All:
Shi-Poo-Pi, Shi-Poo-Pi, Shi-Poo-Pi!
The girl who's hard to get
Shi-Poo-Pi,
Shi-Poo-Pi, Shi-Poo-Pi, but you can win her yet
You can win her yet!
Shi-Poo-Pi!






Goodnight, My Someone

Marian:
Goodnight, my someone,
Goodnight, my love,
Sleep tight, my someone,
Sleep tight, my love,
Our star is shining it's brightest light
For goodnight, my love, for goodnight
Sweet dreams be yours, dear,
If dreams there be
Sweet dreams to carry you close to me
I wish they may and I wish they might
Now goodnight, my someone, goodnight
True love can be whispered from heart to heart
When lovers are parted they say
But I must depend on a wish and a star
As long as my heart doesn't know who you are
Sweet dreams be yours dear,
If dreams there be
Sweet dreams to carry you close to me
I wish they may and I wish they might
Now goodnight, my someone, goodnight
Goodnight,
Goodnight




It's You

Quartet:
It's you in the sunrise, it's you in my cup
It's you all the way into town
It's your sweet "Hello, dear" that sets me up
And it's your "Got to go, dear" that gets me down
It's you on my pillow in all my dreams
'Til once more the morning breaks through
What words could be saner or truer or plainer
Than it's you, it's you
Yes, it's you
Oh, yes it's you





Lida Rose

Quartet:
Lida Rose, I'm home again, Rose
To get the sun back in the sky
Lida Rose, I'm home again, Rose
About a thousand kisses shy
Ding dong ding
I can hear the chapel bell chime
Ding dong ding
At the least suggestion I'll pop the question
Lida Rose, I'm home again, Rose
Without a sweetheart to my name
Lida Rose, now everyone knows
That I am hoping you're the same
So here is my love song, not fancy or fine
Lida Rose, oh won't you be mine
Lida Rose, oh Lida Rose oh Lida Rose





My White Knight

Marian:
Being in love used to be my fav'rite dream
Oh, yes
I've been in love more than anybody else has
I guess
My first love heroic'ly ran the streetcar
I tingled at ev'ry clang clang
Next I fell for the principal
But, oh that teacher who sang "In the Gloamin'."
Knee-deep in love--what a lovely dream!
And yet, somehow,
Me deep in love's only half of what I'm longing for now
I still love my being in love with someone,
But tell me, why couldn't there be
Somebody being in love with me?
All I want is a plain man
All I want is a modest man
A quiet man, a gentle man
A straightforward and honest man
To sit with me in a cottage somewhere in the state of Iowa
And I would like him to be more interested in me
Than he's in himself and more interested in us than in me
And if occasionally he'd ponder
What makes Shakespeare and Beethoven great
Him I could love 'til I die
Him I could love 'til I die!
Being in love--what a lovely dream!
And yet, somehow,
Being in love's only half of what I'm longing for now
And so then,
Tonight I'll be in there dreaming
And hoping that someday there'll be
Just once!
Somebody being in love with me








Wells Fargo Wagon

People:
O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street,
Oh please let it be for me!
O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street,
I wish, I wish I knew what it could be!

First Voice:
I got a box of maple sugar on my birthday

Second Voice:
In March I got a gray mackinaw

Third Voice:
And once I got some grapefruit from Tampa

Fourth Voice:
Montgom'ry Ward sent me a bathtub and a cross-cut saw

People:
O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' now
Is it a prepaid surprise or C.O.D

Fifth Voice:
It could be curtains!

Sixth Voice:
Or dishes!

Seventh Voice:
Or a double boiler!

Eighth Voice:
Or it could be

People:
Yes, it could be
Yes, you're right it surely could be

Eighth Voice:
Somethin' special

People:
Somethin' very, very special now

Eighth Voice:
Just for me!

People:
O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street
Oh, don't let him pass my door!
O-ho the Wells Fargo
Wagon is a-comin' down the street
I wish I knew what he was comin' for

Ninth Voice:
I got some salmon from Seattle last September

Tenth Voice:
And I expect a new rockin' chair

Eleventh Voice:
I hope I get my raisins from Fresno

Quartet:
The D.A.R. have sent a cannon for the courthouse square

Winthrop:
O-ho the Wellth Fargo Wagon ith a-comin' now,
I don't know how I can ever wait to thee
It could be thumpin' for thumone who is
No relation but it could be thump'n thpethyul
Just for me!

People:
O-ho, you Wells Fargo Wagon keep a-comin'
O-ho, you Wells Fargo
Wagon, keep a-comin'
O-ho you Wells Fargo Wagon, Don't you dare Mae a stop
Until you stop for me!