"(Back Home Again in) Indiana" is a song composed by James F. Hanley with lyrics by

Ballard MacDonald Ballard MacDonald (October 15, 1882 – November 17, 1935) was an American lyricist, who was one of the writers of Tin Pan Alley. Born in Portland, Oregon, he was a charter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ...

that was published in January 1917.

An Indiana signature

The tune was published as a

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...

pop song by the New York publishing firm Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. It contains a musical quotation from an earlier Tin Pan Alley popular song, "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," and used several evocative words and phrases from the earlier song's lyrics including "candlelight," "moonlight," "fields," "new-mown hay," "sycamores," and "Wabash". Since 1946, the chorus of "Back Home Again in Indiana" has been performed during pre-race ceremonies before the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

. From 1947 until 2020, thousands of multicolored balloons would be

released Released may refer to: * Released (Jade Warrior album), ''Released'' (Jade Warrior album), 1971 * Released (Patti LaBelle album), ''Released'' (Patti LaBelle album), 1980 * ''Released: 1985–1995'', an album by Kronos Quartet, 1995 * ''Released'' ...

from an infield tent during the song, until the practice was halted citing environmental concerns. From 1972 to 2014, the song was performed most often by

Jim Nabors James Thurston Nabors (June 12, 1930 – November 30, 2017) was an American actor, singer, and comedian, widely known for his signature character, Gomer Pyle. Nabors was discovered by Andy Griffith while working at a Santa Monica nightclub, and ...

. He admitted to having the song's lyrics written on his hand during his inaugural performance, and occasionally his versions altered several of the words. The vocals are supported 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." After Nabors retired, the honor of singing the song was done on a rotating basis (which had also been the case prior to Nabors becoming the regular singer) in 2015 and 2016. A cappella group Straight No Chaser performed in 2015 and the Spring 2014 winner of '' The Voice''

Josh Kaufman Josh Kaufman (born November 9, 1976) is an American soul singer and songwriter. A native of the Tampa Bay area in Florida, Kaufman is based out of and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is best known for winning the season 6 of NBC's '' The V ...

accompanied by the Indianapolis Children's Choir performed in 2016. The Speedway has returned to a standard singer starting in 2017, with

Jim Cornelison James Cornelison (born June 20, 1964) is an American singer who sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" at the beginning of home games for the Chicago Blackhawks, accompanied by organist Frank Pellico. Cornelison, a dramatic tenor, starte ...

doing it for nine runnings as of the 2025 race. The song was also parodied in 1988 as "I Spent the War in Indiana". It made fun of that year's Republican Vice Presidential nominee and Indiana native

Dan Quayle James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American retired politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party (United States), ...

's military service in the

Indiana National Guard The Indiana National Guard (INNG) is a component of the United States Armed Forces, the United States National Guard and the Military Department of Indiana (MDI). It consists of the Indiana Army National Guard, the Indiana Air National Guard, a ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, allowing him to avoid deployment to Vietnam.

A jazz standard

In 1917 it was one of the current pop tunes selected by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

to be recorded by the

Original Dixieland Jass Band The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the ...

, (ODJB), who released it as a 78 with "

Darktown Strutters' Ball "Darktown Strutters' Ball" is a popular song by Shelton Brooks, published in 1917. The song has been recorded many times and is considered a popular and jazz standard. There are many variations of the title, including "At the Darktown Strutters' ...

". This lively instrumental version by the ODJB was one of the earliest jazz records issued and sold well. The tune became a

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...

. For years,

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and his All Stars would open every public performance with the number. Its chord changes undergird the

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

composition "

Donna Lee "Donna Lee" is a jazz standard attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis has also claimed authorship. Written in A-flat, it is based on the chord changes of the jazz standard " (Back Home Again in) Indiana". Beginning with an unusual ha ...

", one of jazz's best known

contrafacts A contrafact is a musical work based on a prior work. The term comes from classical music and has only since the 1940s been applied to jazz, where it is still not standard. In classical music, contrafacts have been used as early as the parody ma ...

, a composition that lays a new melody over an existing harmonic structure. Lesser known contrafacts of "Indiana" include

Fats Navarro Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 7, 1950) was an American jazz trumpet player and a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. A native of Key West, Florida, he toured with big bands before achieving fa ...

's "Ice Freezes Red" and

Lennie Tristano Leonard Joseph Tristano (March 19, 1919 – November 18, 1978) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher of jazz improvisation. Tristano studied for bachelor's and master's degrees in music in Chicago before moving to New Yo ...

's "Ju-Ju". In 1934, Joe Young, Jean Schwartz, and Joe Ager wrote "

In a Little Red Barn (On a Farm Down in Indiana) "In a Little Red Barn (on a Farm down in Indiana)" was a popular song written by Joe Young, Jean Schwartz, and Milton Ager in 1934. It used the same harmonic structure as the 1917 "Back Home Again in Indiana" (also called just "Indiana"). Both "In ...

", 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.

Cover versions

Original Dixieland Jazz Band The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the m ...

, 1917 *

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. He also owned a self-named night club in New York City. Early ...

with

Frank Teschemacher Frank Teschemacher (March 13, 1906 – March 1, 1932) was an American jazz clarinetist and alto-saxophonist, associated with the "Austin High" gang (along with Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman and others). Early life and education He was born ...

and

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman ...

, 1928 *

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 ...

, 1929 *

Casa Loma Orchestra The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American dance band active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. With the decline of the ...

, 1932 *

Hoosier Hot Shots The Hoosier Hot Shots were an American quartet of musicians who entertained on stage, screen, radio, and records from the mid-1930s into the 1970s. The group formed in Indiana where they performed on local radio before moving to Chicago and a ...

, 1937 *

Chu Berry Leon Brown "Chu" Berry (September 13, 1908 – October 30, 1941) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist during the 1930s. He is perhaps best known for his time as a member of singer Cab Calloway's big band. According to music critic Gary Gidd ...

with

Hot Lips Page Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist. Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Sh ...

, 1937 *

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

with

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

, 1942 * Lester Young with

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

, 1944 *

Don Byas Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also l ...

with

Slam Stewart Leroy Eliot "Slam" Stewart (September 21, 1914December 10, 1987) was an American jazz double-bass player whose trademark style was his ability to bow the bass (arco) and simultaneously hum or sing an octave higher. He was a violinist before swit ...

, 1945 *

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. A pioneer in the development of bebop and its associated contributions to jazz theory,Grove Powell's application of complex phrasing to ...

, 1947 *

, ''An Evening with Louis Armstrong at Pasadena Civic Auditorium'', 1951 *

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

, and

Sonny Criss William "Sonny" Criss (23 October 1927 – 19 November 1977) was an American jazz musician. An Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist of prominence during the bebop era of jazz, he was one of many players influenced by Charlie Parker. Biography ...

, ''

Inglewood Jam ''Inglewood Jam'', also known as ''Bird and Chet'' and ''Live at the Trade Winds'', is a live album by jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, recorded in California in 1952 with trumpet player Chet Baker and Sonny Criss. It was released by the Jazz Sho ...

'', 1952 *

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

, ''Interchanges ‘54'' *

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music. Darin started ...

and

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music Cit ...

, '' Two of a Kind'', 1961 *

Richard "Groove" Holmes Richard Arnold "Groove" Holmes (May 2, 1931 – June 29, 1991) was an American jazz organist who performed in the hard bop and soul jazz genre. He is best known for his 1965 recording of "Misty". Career Holmes's first album, on Pacific Jazz ...

, ''On Basie's Bandstand'', 1966 *

Joe Venuti Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist. Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie Lan ...

and

Zoot Sims John Haley "Zoot" Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto (and, later, soprano) saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big ...

, ''Joe and Zoot'', 1973 *

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

, live on

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

, 1973 * Bonnie Koloc, ''Wild and Recluse'', 1978 *

Dick Wellstood Richard MacQueen Wellstood (November 25, 1927 – July 24, 1987) was an American jazz pianist. Career He was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Wellstood's mother was a graduate of the Juilliard School who played church organ. Wellst ...

with

Kenny Davern John Kenneth Davern (January 7, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American jazz clarinetist. Biography He was born in Huntington, Long Island, to a family of mixed Jewish and Irish-Catholic ancestry. His mother's family originally came from Vi ...

, ''The Blue Three at Hanratty's'', 1981 * Straight No Chaser, ''The New Old Fashioned'', 2015 *

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

, “Garcia”, 1974 *

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccin ...

, ''Interview Jazz Collection Vol. 1'', 1996

References

External links

* Song lyrics on

Wikisource Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...

{{authority control Songs with lyrics by Ballard MacDonald 1917 songs 1910s jazz standards Louis Armstrong songs Songs written by James F. Hanley Indianapolis 500 Songs about Indiana

An Indiana signature

A jazz standard

Cover versions

See also

References

External links