I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Can you call the Captain Clitus?
Logan, Grant, and Ronald Reagan
In the grave with Xylophagan
Do you know the ghost community?
Sound the horn, address the city

(Who will save it? Dedicate it?
Who will praise it? Commemorate it for you?)

We are awakened with the axe
Night of the Living Dead at last
They have begun to shake the dirt
Wiping their shoulders from the earth
I know, I know the nations past
I know, I know they rust at last
They tremble with the nervous thought
Of having been, at last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Can you call the Captain Clitus?
B-U-D-A! Caledonia!
S-E-C-O-R! Magnolia!
B-I-R-D-S! And Kankakee!
Evansville and Parker City

Speaking their names, they shake the flag
Waking the earth, it lifts and lags
We see a thousand rooms to rest
Helping us taste the bite of death
I know, I know my time has passed
I'm not so young, I'm not so fast
I tremble with the nervous thought
Of having been, at last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Can you call the Captain Clitus?
Comer and Potato Peelers!
G-R-E-E-N Ridge! Reeders
M-C-V-E-Y! And Horace!
E-N-O-S! Start the chorus

Corn and farms and tombs in Lemmon
Sailor Springs and all things feminine
Centerville and Old Metropolis
Shawneetown, you trade and topple us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Hold your tongue and don't divide us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S!
Land of God, you hold and guide us


Lyrics submitted by Nimbus the Kitten

They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhhh! song meanings
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    General Comment

    Who the hell is Captain Clitus? The only references I can find are:

    1. Clitus was an officer for Alexander the Great. Though he once saved AtG's life, he later ".. said something to offend Alexander the Great. Alexander took a lance and murdered Clitus. From then on, Alexander's followers had to be very wary of what they said."

    (from ancienthistory.about.com/od/alexanderpeople/g/Clitus.htm)

    1. a) an overzealous spaz, or b) diarea of the mouth

    (from urbandictionary.com/define.php)

    Actually, I can see how the urbandictionary definitions derive from the loose mouthed Clitus of AtG's time.

    However, I haven't figured out how these definitions fit in with the song's lyrics.

    Ideas anyone?

    tsreybon February 17, 2010   Link

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