Plains of Illinois, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer urges "all you good old farmers that on your plow depend" to "come travel west and settle on the plains of Illinois." It is alleged that Adam would compare Illinois to the Garden of Eden. The state and its residents are glowingly described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag); Edwin Wolf 2nd, _American Song Sheets, Slip Ballads, and Political Broadsides 1850-1870_, Library Company of Philadelphia, 1963, p. 152, lists a broadside that is presumably from the mid-nineteenth century
KEYWORDS: Bible talltale emigration farming
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 89, "The Plains of Illinois" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 162-163, "El-A-Noy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 41, "El-A-Noy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp. 441-442, "The Plains of Illinois" (1 text plus a broadside print); pp. 454-455, "El-A-Noy" (1 text)
Botkin-TreasuryMississippiRiverFolklore, p. 561, "El-a-noy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2247, p. 152, "State of Illinois" (1 reference)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 42, "Elanoy" (1 text)
DT, PLAINILL*
Roud #4605
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "State of Illinois" (on Thieme01) (on Thieme05)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
State of Illinois
File: FSC089

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