Iowa Fight Song

The "Iowa Fight Songs one of three fight songs currently used by the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band along with On Iowa and Roll Along Iowa. The music and lyrics were written by Iowa native Meredith Willson, author of The Music Man, in 1951. The song is mostly a contrafact to his hit, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," much in the same way that "76 Trombones" and "Goodnight, My Someone" from The Music Man are based on the same harmonic structure.

As part of Willson's library, the song is copyrighted to Frank Music Corp. and Meredith Willson Music, subsidiaries of Sir Paul McCartney's MPL Communications.

The song was used in a 2007 commercial for the Iowa Lottery, where a Hawkeye fan sings different words to it for an instant ticket game. Meredith Willson's widow, Rosemary, protested the song's use in a lottery commercial, while university faculty members urged the athletic department to distance itself from the state lottery, fearing it would promote gambling. The ad was pulled soon after.

Music Link

 * MP3 and lyrics
 * Full lyrics