♫ Indiana Wants Me ♫

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A few nights ago, I mentioned to David that there are two state legislators in my state (Ohio) who want to make June 14th a state holiday honouring … that former guy.  I said that if they succeed, I will move out of this state, either to Kentucky or Indiana, which led David to recall this song … Indiana Wants Me.  I haven’t thought of or heard this song in decades, but the minute he mentioned it, the song began playing in my mind, my feet began tapping, and I remembered that I used to love this song!  What surprised the heck out of me, though, was finding out that this actually hit #1 in the U.S. and #2 in the UK … I didn’t think it was the sort of song that would make it big in the United Kingdom!

On early copies of this song, it opens with the wail of a police siren, which is later heard during the instrumental bridge. The siren sounded (for its time) was so realistic that some drivers pulled over to the side of the road when they heard the song on their car radios. When the confusion was discovered, Rare Earth (the record company that Taylor was signed with) gave radio stations (particularly those that were too skeptical and/or scared to play the song) a second version without the siren.

When this song, written, composed and recorded by R. Dean Taylor hit the charts, Taylor become one of the few white artists to score a hit for Motown Records. He was already a successful songwriter for the label, with a hand in writing the hit Love Child.  Indiana Wants Me was his only U.S. hit, but in the UK he also scored with Gotta See Jane, There’s A Ghost In My House, and Window Shopping.

Taylor explains the origins of the song …

“I was living in a fleabag hotel and one night I heard these sirens and somebody was breaking in a store below. I looked out and police had surrounded this store and I turned my tape-recorder on. I saw Bonnie and Clyde a couple of times and with those two things that’s how I came to write ‘Indiana’.”

Indiana Wants Me
R. Dean Taylor

Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
I wish I had you
To talk to

If a man ever needed dyin’, he did
No one had the right to say what he said
About you
And it’s so cold and lonely here without you
Out there the law’s a-comin’
I’m scared and so tired of runnin’

Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
I wish I had you to talk to

It hurts to see the man that I’ve become
And to know I’ll never see the morning sun shine on the land
I’ll never see your smilin’ face or touch your hand
If just once more I could see
You, our home, and our little baby

Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there

I wish I had you to talk to

I hope this letter finds its way to you
Forgive me, love, for the shame I put you through
And all the tears
Hang on, love, to the memories of those happy years
Red lights are flashin’ around me
Yeah, love, it looks like they found me

Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
I wish I had you to talk to

Indiana wants me
Lord, I can’t go back there
(Give yourself up)
Indiana wants me
(This is the police, give yourself up)
Lord, I can’t go back there
(You are surrounded)

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: R.d. Taylor

24 thoughts on “♫ Indiana Wants Me ♫”

  5. Weird that you selected this song; I was singing it to myself on my walk on Saturday. And, yes, the memory of it was triggered by hearing sirens! Gadzooks. Our mental streams may be melding across the quantum plains.

    Hugs and cheers. M

    Liked by 2 people

    • Now THAT IS weird! This is one of those songs that you can go for decades without thinking about … and just within a week, both of us??? The music from Twilight Zone is playing … no wait … it’s the music from Jaws that builds in crescendo … is playing in my head! Mental streams melding across the quantum plains … wow!

      Hugs ‘n cheers to you, Michael! Have a great week ahead!

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  6. Jill, good song. Why any state would want to honor the most seditious, corrupt and deceitful president is beyond me. But, people named some things after Richard Nixon as well. Maybe we could name a land fill after him – The Trump Dump. Keith

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    • Glad you liked it, Keith! Yes, it’s a mystery to me, but then … there are just about enough fools in this state to applaud the notion. I swear I will go back to New York if they do this! Sigh.

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  7. Another happy memory from my teenage years. His three biggest hits here all appeared on a series of albums released in the UK called Motown Chartbusters. They kind of seemed a little out of place, but they were great pop records.

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    • Close, but Juneteenth is the 19th, and they want to make you-know-who Day the 14th, his birthday. Also my late ex-husband’s birthday … hmmmmm … I wonder if there’s something ominous about that day? But nonetheless, yes, they are assholes!

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  9. I seem to remember I saw a movie on TV with that as the theme song. I can actually believe there are places in Ohio where they want a day to honor the “former guy”. It was, of course, a state where one of the former Grand Wizards of the KKK came from. A nice middle-class black couple I knew of had the house they were buying in the county not far from where I taught firebombed. She was our school nurse and he was an undertaker. I, of course, grew up in a white world and didn’t have any black neighbors or friends. When you were young in the fifties and early 60s you didn’t think about it. I, of course, faced a problem with some about my religion but we took that in stride. We were taught to defend against that. People were especially rude and nasty when JFK ran for President. It’s about fear. The Asian-American elderly are now having serious problems from physical attacks. It tells you something about why it’s happening when you see young white males doing it. First of all, they’re stinking cowards. Second, you strongly suspect where it came from. Who else? 🙂 — Suzanne

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    • Hmmmm … I checked and can’t find that it was used in any movie or even advertisement, but you may be right. Yes, Ohio is filled with supporters of the former guy, with fools who don’t understand what they are even voting for.

      Sigh. I remember the firebombings, the cross burnings, and more of the 50s, but never was as close to one as you were. On the other hand, as a child, most of my playmates and friends were either Hispanic or Black, so it took me forever to understand why somebody would dislike people just because they were Black! In truth, I still don’t understand it today, though I’ve heard all the ‘reasons’ (excuses) a thousand times. Like you, I faced discrimination because my father was Jewish, so I was sent to Hebrew school on Saturdays, and my mother was Catholic, so I was sent to Catholic schools all week. I fit in neither place, and was often taunted, called “that Jew girl” in school, but that is probably why I have such a tough shell now … I got used to it and learned to fight back. Yes, you’ve hit the nail on the head … all bigotry stems from fear. And yes, any who would attack another because of their ethnicity, religion, gender identification … are just what you said: stinking cowards. Sigh. Will the world ever change? I think not.

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