THE PLAINS OF ILLINOIS

1. Come all you good old farmers that on your plow depend,
Come listen to a story, come listen unto a friend;
Oh, leave your fields of childhood, you enterprising boys;
Come travel west and settle on the plains of Illinois.

2 Illinois, it is as fine countree as ever has been seen,
If old Adam had traveled over that, perhaps he would say the same,
"All in the garden of Eden, when I was but a boy,
There was nothing I could compare with the plains of Illinois."

3 Perhaps you have a few acres that near your friends' adjoin,
Your family is growing large, for them you must provide,
Come, leave your fields of childhood, you enterprising boys,
Come travel west and settle on the plains of Illinois.

Source: The Abelard Folk Song Book, Norman Cazden, 1958.

In Carl Sandburg's "American Songbag," you'll find ELANOY, a much less complimen
tary version of this song.

@American @farm @settler
filename[ ELANOYS2
JRO
mudcat.org

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