Lyr Req: She dreams of Indiana

Subject: Lyr Req: She dreams of Indiana
From: GUEST,Thompson
Date: 28 May 20 - 03:17 PM

Sorry - didn't realise I wasn't signed in…

I've been thinking about Florence King's book Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady - not a book to read on a bus, or on a train, if you don't want the other passengers to call for the men in the white coats to take away the unfortunate person howling with mad laughter.

One of her stories in it concerns a local policeman wrenching open the door of the car in which she's courting as a teenager - she falls out, pulling up her knickers, and he shakes his head and says sorrowfully: "Fallen and forgotten, without a good man's name…" and she automatically finished it "She dreams of Indiana, as she walks the streets of shame."

But what song is this from? Thought I'd find it in the cattery, but no sign. I even thought I might've asked before, but no.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She dreams of Indiana
From: cnd
Date: 28 May 20 - 03:50 PM

The short answer is that she just made it up.

From The Florence King Reader, p. 346:

"Loath to go through another permissions wrangle, I decided to write my own Gay Nineties lyrics and let readers think they were real ones. Who would know the difference in this day and age? Who would care? Besides, they were so easy to write; all you needed was a bad girl and a snowstorm.

"... You can't beat the banks of the Wabash for a good girl one wrong, so I settled on my location and began [to write Fallen and forgotten]"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She dreams of Indiana
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 May 20 - 04:03 PM

Bingo!

I don't know that I want to tell you how much time I wasted looking for that frickin' song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She dreams of Indiana
From: Thompson
Date: 28 May 20 - 04:06 PM

Ooh, I wonder if she completed it, and if there's music to it! It has the wistful, enjoyable masochism of the perfect country song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She dreams of Indiana
From: leeneia
Date: 29 May 20 - 12:02 PM

"The Banks of the Wabash" has nothing in it about a girl gone wrong. It's a sweet song about a beautiful river and a long-lost love.

My father was one of those people who sings one phrase from a song, then stop. "Oh, the Moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash" was one of those phrases. After years of hearing that one phrase, I finally looked up the song and added it to my collection of piano tunes.