There is No Place Like Nebraska

There is one specific poem that I will never forget. The poem--turned song shortly after--has been played by and for me thousands of times; ‘There is No Place Like Nebraska’. Writing a recent blog post about limericks, I had completely overlooked this because I am only familiar with it in song. The two-versed poem follows a limericks meter and rhyme scheme (almost), but is not meant to be a joke. The words, which will forever be in my heart, go:

“There is no place like Nebraska,

Dear old Nebraska U,

Where the girls are the fairest,

The boys are the squarest,

Of any old place that I knew.

There is no place like Nebraska,

Where we are all true blue,

We will all stick together

In all kinds of whether,

For dear old Nebraska U.”

This poem was later turned into a march by John Phillip Sousa. The two verses both follow the rhyme scheme ABCCB, and each line has between 6-8 syllables. In the song format, the C rhyming line are said faster, to make it sound more like a true limerick. As another similarity, both B rhyming lines use masculine rhymes, while the C rhyming lines both use feminine rhymes. I now present to you ‘There is No Place Like Nebraska’ in song form performed by the Cornhusker Marching Band.