Back Home Again in Indiana

"(Back Home Again in) Indiana" is a song composed by Ballard MacDonald and James F. Hanley, first published in January 1917. While it is not the official state song of the U.S. state of Indiana ("On the Banks of the Wabash"), it is perhaps the best-known song that pays tribute to the Hoosier State.

1917 sheet music cover

Origin and influence

The tune was introduced as a Tin Pan Alley pop-song of the time. It contains a musical quotation from the already well known "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away", as well as repetition of some key words and phrases from the lyrics of the latter: moonlight, candlelight, fields, new-mown hay, sycamores, and of course the Wabash River.

In 1934, Joe Young, Jean Schwartz, and Joe Ager wrote "In a Little Red Barn (on a Farm down in Indiana)", which not only incorporated all the same key words and phrases above, but whose chorus had the same harmonic structure as "Indiana". In this respect it was a contrafact of the latter (see "A jazz standard" below).

A jazz standard

Columbia 78, A2297, ODJB, 1917.

In 1917 it was one of the current pop tunes selected by Columbia Records to be recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who released it as a Columbia 78, A2297, backed with "Darktown Strutters' Ball". This lively instrumental version by the ODJB was one of the earliest jazz records issued and sold well. The tune became a jazz standard. For years, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars would open each public performance with the number.

Albert Nicholas, clarinetist, with The Big Chief Jazz Band recorded it on Oslo August 29, 1955. Released on the 78 rpm record Philips P 53037 H.

Its chord changes undergird the Charlie Parker Bebop composition "Donna Lee", one of jazz's best known contrafacts (a composition that overlays a new melody over an existing harmonic structure). Other lesser known contrafacts of Indiana include Fats Navarro's "Ice Freezes Red" and Lennie Tristano's "Ju-Ju".

An Indiana signature

Since 1946, it has been an annual tradition for the chorus of the song to be performed during the pre-race ceremonies at the Indianapolis 500. In most years from 1972 to 2014, it was performed by Jim Nabors. Nabors has admitted to having the song's lyrics written on his hand during his inaugural performance, and occasionally his versions have altered several of the words. The singing is backed by the Purdue All-American Marching Band. In 2014, Nabors performed the song for the final time after announcing his retirement earlier that year, saying: "You know, there's a time in life when you have to move on. I'll be 84 this year. I just figured it was time ... This is really the highlight of my year to come here. It's very sad for me, but nevertheless there's something inside of me that tells me when it's time to go." In 2015, the song was performed by the a cappella group, Straight No Chaser.

The song is also featured prominently at the Indiana State Museum where a steam clock plays the tune at the top of every hour. [1]

Since 1991 Indianapolis TV station WISH-TV used components of the song in their news themes; and since 1997 Fort Wayne TV station WANE-TV (WISH-TV's sister station owned by LIN TV) has also used components of the song in their news themes. Stephen Arnold Music's Newsleader and "Counterpoint with Indiana" (aka WISH-TV News Music Package) and 615 Music's "In-Sink V.4" (aka "In-Sink with Indiana") are news music themes that have the "Back Home Again in Indiana" Signature.

It is also used to open every Little 500 bicycle race held at Indiana University.

Actress and Indiana-native Florence Henderson performed the song on a 1977 episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and on a 1980 episode of Pink Lady and Jeff.

Chords

Assuming that the 1917 sheet music, published by Shapiro, Bernstein, & Co., Inc., is an accurate representation of the composer's work, an analysis of the notes gives the following chord changes for the chorus:

  G     E7     A7             D7        G   G7
| / / / /    | / / / /      | / / / / | / / / / |

  C     C#dim7  G              A7        D7
| / / / /     | / / / /      | / / / / | / / / / |

  G     E7      A7             D7    D#dim  Em  Eb7
| / / / /     | / / / /      | / / / /    | / / / / |

  G   B7        Em    C#7sus4  G   D9    G
| / / / /     | / / / /      | / / / / | / / / / ||

Roman numeral analysis of the chorus produces the following:

| I  VI7     | II7         | V7       | I  I7   |

| IV #IVdim7 | I           | II7      | V7      |

| I  VI7     | II7         | V7 #Vdim | vi bVI7 |

| I  III7    | vi #IV7sus4 | I  V9    | I       |

In a later version from the same publishers, the Music engraving is exactly the same, but chords and tablature notation were added. Several chords can be observed to have been incorrectly identified. On beat four of measure five, the chord is identified as G dim, but the notes are C# (doubled in the bass), Bb, E. Since there is no G in the music and the doubling of the C# suggests that note as the root, it is a C# dim7 in name (the same notes as a G dim7), and acts as a type of altered IV chord. Since it sits on beat four of a IV chord measure, it is acting as a passing chord to the I chord of measure 2.

Measure 11 of the chorus is notated with an Adim on beat 4, but with a D# doubled in the bass in the sheet music, it is more correctly notated as D#dim. They have the same notes, and this leaves the cord as an altered V chord, with D# as the root, which allows the bass line to move chromatically from D7 up to Em.

Measure 12 of the chorus ends with an Eb7, which agrees with the notes on the page, but it is worth noting as an altered VI chord, carrying the bass line back down 1/2 step to the enharmonic version of the D# used on the way up from D to E.

In the second A section of the chorus, measures 14 and 15 are notated with Em, Edim, G, and D9. Edim would have E G A# (and C# for the full chord), but the notes in the sheet music are C doubled in the left hand, indicating a C root, and B and F# in the right hand. Thus, it cannot be Edim at all. The closest chord with those notes is C#7sus4 (C# F# G# B), which has one added note, the G#. Since the root, 4th and 7th are the defining notes, it would be easy to leave out the fifth, which would be implied in the overtones of the root, anyway. This is a slight variation from the vi II V7 I progression one might expect in a 32 bar song

With the E in the right hand in measure 15, the D chord is a 9th, not a 7th as indicated in the later publication.

See also

• List of pre-1920 jazz standards

External links

• Song lyrics on Wikisource