Indiana Wants Me

Album

I Think, Therefore I Am

Label

Rare Earth Records

Genre

Dance-pop

Composer(s)

R. Dean Taylor

Entered Chart

Sep 5, 1970

Peak Date

Nov 7, 1970

Released

August 1970

Recorded

1970

Catalog #

Rare Earth 5013

B-Side

Love's Your Name

In this song, a man is in trouble with the law after murdering another man who said something insulting about a woman who is either his wife or lover (talk about overreacting!). The man is lonely and scared. He's tired of running and hiding from the Indiana police, and he misses his wife/lover and their child. 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) 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 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 American hit, but in England, he also scored with "Gotta See Jane," "There's A Ghost In My House" and "Window Shopping." Indiana wanted him because he defended his lady's honor, apparently with a gun. In the July 6, 1974 issue of Melody Maker, Taylor explained the inspiration for the song. "I was living in a fleabag hotel and one night I heard these sirens and somebody was breaking in a store below," he said. "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.'" Although there are no sirens on the later release of this song, it does include a police radio. Along with "There's A Ghost In My House" this was unarguably Taylor's biggest hit, and unlike "Ghost..." it sold well on both sides of the Atlantic, topping the singles chart in his native Canada. This was released on the Rare Earth label backed by "Love's Your Name" and also on Tamla Motown backed by "Gotta See Jane." >>

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 gettin' 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 sunshine on the land
I'll never see your smiling 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
Indiana wants me, Lord, I can't go back there