Indiana

A beautiful 1917 ballad with a rural setting.
words by Ballard MacDonald
music by James F. Hanley

Often called “Back Home Again in Indiana”. This jaunty song is a reworking of the state song of Indiana, “On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away”. Even the lively strains of music were borrowed with permission given. It had extra meaning for WW1 soldiers who longed to make it home.

The sheet music:

Indiana – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment track:

Indiana – MIDIDownload

Lyrics

  1. I have always been a wand’rer, over land and sea
    Yet a moonbeam on the water casts a spell o’er me
    A vision fair I see, again I seem to be

Chorus
Back home again in Indiana, and it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright
Through the sycamores for me
The new mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash
Then I long for my Indiana home

  1. Fancy paints on mem’ry’s canvas scenes that we hold dear
    We recall them in days after, clearly they appear
    And often times I see a scene that’s dear to me:

Sung here by Fred Feild: