Indiana (50 Songs For 50 States)

Oh the crossroads of America. Known for sucking on chili dogs and no liquor sales on election day until after 6pm. The state who bore David Lee Roth and Shelly Long. It's been a nice place to call home the majority of the past twelve years of our lives. Strangers are unusually pleasant. Homes are unusually cheap, but spacious. I can always forgive Hoosier drivers for going ten MPH under the speed limit wherever they go because...well, everyday is a Sunday drive in the Hoosier state.

Music wise, John Mellencamp rules the hearts of the true Hoosier. And if John had a song with Indiana in the title, I would feel obliged to use it in fear of backlash from hundreds of thousand Mellencamp fans. I could throw in an excellent new band from last year, Cymbals Eat Guitars, whose song "Indiana" gives a feel that it's the stop gap pit of hell in the Midwest (which if you're stuck on the untreated highways in the Hoosier state during winter, that is the precise feeling you get). But I love you too much Indiana to throw in such a negative, bad vibe tune, even if it is delicious.

Or I could just throw in Gomer Pyle....but I won't bring in the song about the Wabash that we drunkenly sing each year at the 500.

No, it's fitting that way up in Gary is the birthplace of the Jacksons. And in the 1977 cut below from their TV show, Michael is truly in soulful form singing "Going Back To Indiana", which is the phrase we use when vacation or a long road trip is done and we're heading back to a comfortable house and bed...because that is what we're truly lucky to have, in the heartland, amongst cornfields, and cows. So Indiana, you rightfully get the Jacksons as our 50 Songs For 50 States tour continues on. For MJ.

Source: http://www.jhostation.com/2010/11/indiana-50-songs-for-50-states.html

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