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?
Logan, Grant, and Ronald Reagan
In the grave with Xylophagan
Do you know the ghost community?
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 nations 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?
B-U-D-A Caledonia
S-E-C-O-R Magnolia
B-I-R-D-S And Kankakee
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 has 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
Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S
Can you call the Captain Clitus?
Comer and Potato Peelers
G-R-E-E-N Ridge Reeders
M-C-V-E-Y And Horace
E-N-O-S Start the chorus

Corn and farms and tombs in Lemmon
Sailor Springs and all things feminine
Centerville and Old Metropolis
Shawneetown, you trade and topple us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S
Hold your tongue and don't divide us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S
Land of God, you hold and guide us

Copyright: BMG Rights Management
Writer(s): Sufjan Stevens