Back home again

Being as this weekend is Memorial Day weekend, and in central Indiana that means Indy 500 weekend, I thought I'd take a moment to clear up some confusion. I suspect that most Americans, and many Hossiers, believe that the Indiana State Song is "(Back Home Again in) Indiana." While this is a great song, it is not in fact the state song. I suspect the confusion lays in the fact that it is sung before the start of the Indy 500. For many years, on and off since 1972, Jim Nabors, aka Gomer Pyle USMC, has sung it. The actual state song is "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," by Paul Dresser. So here, for your reading pleasure is the actual Indiana State Song:

Round my Indiana homestead wave the cornfields,
In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool,
Oftentimes my tho'ts revert to scenes of childhood,
Where I first received my lessons - nature's school.
Without her face it seems so incomplete,
I long to see my mother in the doorway,
As she stood there years ago, her boy to greet.

CHORUS
Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash,
From the fields there comes the breath of new-mown hay,
Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming,
On the banks of the Wabash, far away.

Many years have passed since I strolled by the river,
Arm in arm, with sweetheart Mary by my side,
It was there I tried to tell her that I loved her,
It was there I begged of her to be my bride.
Long years have passed since I strolled thro' the churchyard.
She's sleeping there, my angel, Mary dear,
I loved her, but she thought I didn't mean it,
Still I'd give my future were she only here.