Hawaii
Current Song: “Hawaii Ponoi”
Hawaii’s own true sons, be loyal to your chief
Your country’s liege and lord, the Alii (English translation)
Our 21st Century pick: “Hawaii” by The Strokes
Wether you’re in L.A., sunny laid back L.A.
Wether you in New York, comfort ‘round your block
Wether you’re in the UK, where the sky is dark
and the grass is kinda green , you know like central park.
Still my favorite place in this whole wide world
has got to be in the middle of the ocean floor.
I see you poking out the ocean.
Paradise on earth.
The 50th State – What?! Hawaii
Idaho
Current Song: “Here We Have Idaho”
You’ve heard of the wonders our land does possess,
It’s beautiful valleys and hills,
The majestic forests where nature abounds,
We love every nook and rill.
Our 21st Century pick: “Idaho” by Josh Ritter
Out at sea for seven years
I got your letter in Tangier
Thought that I’d been on a boat
Til that single word you wrote
That single word it landlocked me
Turned the masts to cedar trees
And the winds to gravel roads
Idaho oh Idaho
Illinois
Current Song: “Illinois”
By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois,
O’er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois
Our 21st Century pick: “Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: The World’s Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream” by Sufjan Stevens
Chicago, in fashion, the soft drinks, expansion
Oh Columbia!
From Paris, incentive, like Cream of Wheat invented,
The Ferris Wheel!
Our 21st Century runner-up: “Giant of Illinois” by Andrew Bird
Indiana
Current Song: “On the Banks of the Wabash”
‘Round my Indiana homesteads wave the cornfields,
In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool.
Our 21st Century pick: “Indiana” by Melissa Etheridge
Those big dreams are flying machines
And they’ll take you wherever you want to go.
Sometimes you find that what’s real is inside
You don’t have to go away
To find your way home
Oh, Indiana
Our 21st Century runners-up: “Indiana” by Cymbals Eat Guitars, “Springtime Indiana” by Sandra McCracken
Iowa
Current Song: “The Song of Iowa”
You asked what land I love the best, Iowa, tis Iowa,
The fairest State of all the west, Iowa, O! Iowa
Our 21st Century pick: “Diggin’ My Grave” by William Elliott Whitmore
This Iowa dirt is mighty cold
This Iowa dirt is mighty cold
And god will never rest my soul
Down in this Iowa dirt so cold
Kansas
Current Song: “Home On the Range”
Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam
Where the Deer and the Antelope play
Our 21st Century pick: “Kansas” by Ian McCulloch
I’m growing up
Growing into me
Knowing now where I come from
I’m going back
Going back to see
How going right could go so wrong
Where I’m heading
I can’t tell
Down to Heaven
Or up to Hell
Kentucky
Current Song: “My Old Kentucky Home”
The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home
‘Tis summer, the people are gay
Our 21st Century pick: “Postcard From Kentucky” by Rocky Votolato
Filling station 2 am
Filling out a postcard again
Laughing and remembering
What you say, you’re lucky you’re still breathing
Hell I’m ready for what waits
Return my body to the leaves
With your ghost singing me to sleep
I can hear the melody sing
Our 21st Century runner-up: “Nashville to Kentucky” by My Morning Jacket
Louisiana
Current Song: “Give Me Louisiana” & “You Are My Sunshine”
Give me Louisiana,
The state where I was born
The state of snowy cotton,
The best I’ve ever known
Our 21st Century pick: “Louisiana” by The Walkmen
Louisiana
Come go away with me
Drinking our coffee
Under the canopy
Never saw a morning
I slept through half a day
There’s thunder and there’s lightening
A hundred miles away
Our 21st Century runner-up: “Louisiana Style” by Tab Benoit
Maine
Current Song: “State Song of Maine”
Grand State of Maine, proudly we sing
To tell your glories to the land
Our 21st Century pick: “Maine Island Lovers” by Okkervil River
To cheat
on Maine islands
days of laughter,
nights of sighing.
To love
without ceasing
flowering orchards,
salty sea-things.
To say
without shyness
“unreal city,
you have killed me.”
Maryland
Current Song: “Maryland My Maryland”
For life and death, for woe and weal,
Thy peerless chivalry reveal,
And gird they beauteous limbs with steel,
Maryland! My Maryland!
Our 21st Century pick: “Going to Maryland” by The Mountain Goats
the water’s real cool and the water’s real sweet
here’s hoping that no points repeat
because i bet against the chances that you’d ever be mine
laid everything down on the don’t pass line