I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

Ring the bell and call or write us

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

Can you call the Captain Clitus?

(Who will save it?) Logan, Grant, and Ronald Reagan

(Dedicate it) In the grave with Xylophagan

(Who will praise it?) Do you know the ghost community?

(Commemorate it for you?) Sound the horn, address the city

We are awakened with the axe

Night of the living dead at last

They have begun to shake the dirt

Wiping their shoulders from the earth

I know, I know

The nation's past

I know, I know

They rust at last

They tremble with

The nervous thought

Of having been

At last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

Ring the bell and call or write us

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

Can you call the Captain Clitus?

(Who will save it?) B-U-D-A Caledonia

(Dedicate it?) S-E-C-O-R Magnolia

(Who will praise it?) B-I-R-D-S and Kankakee

(Commemorate it for you?) Evansville and Parker City

Speaking their names, they shake the flag

Waking the earth, it lifts and lags

We see a thousand rooms to rest

Helping us taste the bite of death

I know, I know

My time is passed

I'm not so young

I'm not so fast

I tremble with

The nervous thought

Of having been

At last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S (Oh, ah)

Ring the bell and call or write us

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S (Ooh, ah)

Can you call the Captain Clitus?

(Who will save it?) Comer and potato peelers

(Dedicate it?) G-R-E-E-N Ridge Reeders

(Who will praise it?) M-C-V-E-Y and Horace

(Commemorate it for you?) E-N-O-S start the chorus

(Who will save it?) I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

I know, I know my time is passed

(Dedicate it?) Ring the bell and call or write us

I'm not so young, I'm not so fast

(Who will praise it?) I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

I tremble with the nervous thought

(Commemorate it for you?) Can you call the Captain Clitus?

Of having been, at last, forgot

(Who will save it?) Comer and potato peelers

I know, I know my time has passed

(Dedicate it?) G-R-E-E-N Ridge Reeders

I'm not so young, I'm not so fast

(Who will praise it?) M-C-V-E-Y and Horace

I tremble with the nervous thought

(Commemorate it for you?) E-N-O-S start the chorus

Of having been, at last, for—