State Songs - John Linnell
Illinois
(instrumental)
The Songs of the 50 States
The songs of the fifty states
The songs of the fifty states
The time has come for us to sing about a certain place
Where everything is in the control
Of people who are down in a hole
The songs of the fifty states
The songs of the fifty states
No two alike but each connected by a golden thread
I'll try not to forget all the words
And leave that job to those who have heard
State songs
State songs
I can't wait for my favorite one
I'm not gonna say they're great
I ain't gonna say they ain't
But I recall and will relate the words and music of
The fifty songs of the fifty states
The songs of the fifty states
The time is nigh for us to sigh about a certain place
Where everything is in the control
Of people who are under the ground
State songs
State songs
I can't wait for my favorite one
I hear the melody the harmony the pounding rhythm
The ideas, notes and words
Every state a different composition
Keeping me awake late at night
Can't get them out of my mind
State songs
State songs
I can't wait for my favorite one
I'm not gonna say they're great
I ain't gonna say they ain't
But I recall and will relate the words and music of
The fifty songs of the fifty states
The songs of the fifty states
The time has come for us to sing about a certain place
Where everything is in the control
Of men who are controlling my mind
State songs
State songs
I can't wait for my favorite one
West Virginia
West Virginia
Why don't you come outside with me?
West Virginia
There's something I'd like you to see
West Virginia
Deep within ya
There's another deep inside you and
Inside the other one there is another
In the other
Like I told you
You are concentric in your form
When it's cold you
Have got yourself to keep you warm
West Virginia
You'll continue
To be constantly a part of you
You'll never part and you will be
The party who will be partial to you
Sugar maple's winged seed
Propellor spinning from the tree
Rhododendron evergreen
Look within and you will see
There's another deep inside you and
Inside the other one there is another
In the other
Think it over
No need to answer right away
I'll be over
There in the state across the way
West Virginia
You'll continue
To be constantly a part of you
You'll never part and you will be
The party who will be partial to you
Sugar maple's winged seed
Propellor spinning from the tree
Rhododendron evergreen
Look within and you will see
There's another deep inside you and
Inside the other one there is another
In the other
West Virginia
West Virginia
South Carolina
The other day my neighbor has a dented bike
Second day he called me from intensive care
Says he needs a picture of the dented bike
For the evidence of what a wreck he had
Accident
Accident
Lift that fork eat that snail
Gar�on summon up a new cocktail
Lift that fork eat that snail
Gar�on summon up a new cocktail
Crash my bicycle
Crash my bicycle
In a big South Carolina wreck
I crash my bicyle
Crash my bicycle
Crash my bicycle
In a big South Carolina wreck
I crash my bicyle
And I won some damages and they were punitive
By which I mean the punishment was damaging
It crushed my head
It crushed my head
Gar�on, where's my drink?
Wreck
Observe the front wheel spinning upside down
Wreck
The red reflector fragments strewn around
Wreck
The back wheel's 'O' is now a letter 'D'
Wreck
I was an 'I' and now I am a 'V'
Lift that fork eat that snail
Gar�on summon up a new cocktail
Lift that fork eat that snail
Gar�on summon up a new cocktail
Crash my bicycle
Crash my bicycle
In a big South Carolina wreck
I crash my bicycle
Crash my bicycle
Crash my bicycle
In a big South Carolina wreck
I crash my bicyle
If I had to do it all again by bicycle
If I had to do it I would crash my bicycle
I'd crush my head
Collect the bread
Crash my bicycle
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Fork fork
Snail snail
Gar�on Gar�on
Cocktail cocktail
Fork fork
Snail snail
Gar�on Gar�on
Cocktail cocktail
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Move around folks
Push her back there move along
Show's over folks
Let him breathe step lively
Idaho
Night long
Vigil by the picture window
Sleepy
Eyes never leave the road
Past my bedtime miles ago
Still haven't entered
Idaho
There is a sign
Just up the way
One hundred feet
From my front yard
And though it's dark
I make it out
It says that Idaho welcomes you
Everybody's passed out they don't know
How close we are now
Idaho
Seen you
Know everything about you
Heard your air blowing across my door
Tantalizing go man go
Driving my house to
Idaho
Almost there now
Play that drumroll
Montana
What are you staring at
In that hospital bed?
Let me explain
I wasn't thinking about anything
Then it hit me that Montana was really just a leg
With the round part just the way you would expect
And it started with a feeling that ended in a leg
And it seemed to me Montana was a leg
A leg
Now I get it
I'll tell the person next to me
And then haul off and die
I won't need this
Electric folding bed
I can lose these tiny pillcups now
Cause it hit me that Montana was really just a leg
And then just like that it all fell into place
And I don't think I can stand any longer in this bed
Since I figured out Montana was a leg
A leg
Now I get it
I wasn't sure but now I know
And I can finally go
Give out my lungs
Give up and tell the information to the man in the next bed down
In the morning he'll tell someone the last thing that I said
When I told him that Montana was a leg
From the beginning there was something about it staring me
In the face I should have guessed it right away
When it started with a feeling that ended in a leg
And it seemed to me Montana was a leg
A leg
Now I get it
I'll tell the person next to me
(I'll tell them that Montana was)
I'll say Montana was
A leg
Now I get it
I wasn't sure
But now I know
And I can finally go home
Pennsylvania
La la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
Pennsylvania
Utah
Reading the next r�sum�
Raising his eyes up from the page
Showing no sign of surprise
Weren't you the one I hurt?
Weren't you the one that I betrayed?
Did you stay angry with me?
I forget you
I forget you
I forget Utah
I forget you
I forget you
I forget Utah
Arkansas
The designers of the Arkansas
Were inspired to choose a form that was
The exact dimensions and the shape
Of the state whose name she bore
Yes the ship was shaped like Arkansas
And the hull was formed without a flaw
Every detail had been reproduced
On a scale of one to one
I was on the coast of Arkansas
When I saw her colors from the shore
And I sadly waved my handkerchief
As the ship began to sing:
"I'm the ship that's shaped like Arkansas
And my hull was formed without a flaw
Every detail has been reproduced
On a scale of one to one
Avast me hearties
A blimey state
Ahoy there
Avast there
Ahoy there me hearties"
When the rising tide engulfs the shore
And the waves roll over Arkansas
Will the ship return to anchor there
And replace the sunken state?
For the ship was shaped like Arkansas
And the hull was formed without a flaw
Every detail had been reproduced
On a scale of one to one
Iowa
Silhouette on the moon
Flying around on a broom
Iowa is a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She likes the conical hat
Matching black dress and a cat
Iowa is a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
And if that broom don't fly
I'm gonna buy you a dustbuster
Stirs a large iron pot
Casting a spell on Vermont
Iowa is a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She's a witch
She is a witch
She is a witch
She is a witch
Missisippi
(instrumental)
Maine
Relaxing on my hands and knees
Relaxing on my face
Reclining in the beartrap of its tender warm embrace
Glazed with coniferous green
Glazed with excitement and dread
Exhausted from oversleep
Awake but still in bed
The shaving razor's rusty but the sting brings you exactly back to
Maine
Is the world that went south
Maine
Is a punch in the mouth
Maine
At the top of the chart
Has crushed my evil heart
Maine
Is the devil you know
Maine
Is the heaven below
Maine
At the top of the chart
Has crushed my evil heart
I love you anyway
(I love you anyway)
I promise there's no other state
(there's no other state)
But only if you stay away
(but only if you leave)
And leave me to my ugly state
(me to my ugly state)
And give me back my evil heart so I can see you as you are in
Maine
Is the world that went south
Maine
Is a punch in the mouth
Maine
At the top of the chart
Has crushed my evil heart
Maine
Is the poison you love
Maine
Is the hell from above
Maine
At the top of the chart
Has crushed my evil heart
Oregon
Oregon is bad
Stop it if you can
Here it comes
Here it comes
Now it's after you
Flee to someplace new
Run away
Run away
From the penthouse
To the prison
To the humble pied-�-terre
Are they taking up the cry?
In the brothel
In the castle
On the crowded boulevard
Do they sing the dreadful words?
Oregon is bad
Stop it if you can
Here it comes
Here it comes
Oregon is bad
Stop it if you can
Run away
Run away
Michigan
Oh Michigan exemplar of unchecked replication
Oh Michigan
Oh Michigan
The tank the fishes are in
Expansionist in spirit
In latter borders obtained
Don't hold us back
Don't hold us back
We must eat Michigan's brain
Now grow back Michigan
We miss you again
New Hampshire
Here I stand outside the window longing to be asked inside
Until someone sees, being polite
Though scared to death, they let me in
Woman wonders, "Who's your itchy friend?"
Woman says, "I thought he was with you"
Woman says, "I thought he was with you"
They slowly back away from him
At best he's very interesting
His brushes with success were just an accident
No one likes New Hampshire man
Broken-hearted old man of New Hampshire
Flower-sniffing poet of New Hampshire
Charming witty drunk
Gate-crashing parasite
Self-pitying and withered morose New Hampshire man
Woman wonders, "Who's your itchy friend?"
Woman says, "I thought he was with you"
Woman says, "I thought he was with you"
They slowly back away from him
At best he's very interesting
His brushes with success were just an accident
No one likes New Hampshire man
No one likes New Hampshire man
Nevada
When I was young I met a man a long long way from home
He told me I should sing this song wherever I should roam
Nevada
Nevada
The dream of every gal
Nevada
Nevada
It's every boy's pal