
Info
El-a-noy = Illinois (U.S.A.)
Lyrics
(Folk song)
1. Way down upon the Wabash, Such land was never known;
If Adam had passed over it, The soil he’d surely own;
He’d think it was the garden He’d played in when a boy,
And straight pronounced it Eden, In the State of El-a-noy.
Refrain
Then move your famly westward.
Good health you will enjoy,
And rise to wealth and honor
In the state of El-a-Noy.
2. She’s bounded by the Wabash, The Ohio and the Lakes,
She’s crawfish in the swampy lands, The milk-sick and the shakes;
But these are slight diversions And take not from the joy
Of living in this garden land, The State of El-a-Noy. Refrain
3. Away up in the northward, Right on the borderline,
A great commercial city, Chicago you will find.
Her men are all like Abelard, Her women like Heloise;
All honest virtuous people, For they live in El-a-Noy. Refrain
Last refrain
Then move your family westward, Bring all your girls and boys,
And cross at Shawnee Ferry to the State of El-a-Noy.
See also
- Country / State: Midwestern states (U.S.) / Illinois / American West
- Form: AB
- Harmony: chords i, iv, v
- Melody: ascending major pentascale
- Meter: 2
- Rhythm:
- Scale: natural minor
- Source: The American Songbag, Carl Sandburg, Harcourt Brace and Company, 1927
YouTube
- PDF of song with chords
- MIDI file
- Listen to the melody

