Several readers have asked why I keep spelling it out that way: O-Hi-O. Two reasons really. First, I always remembered the Looney Tunes with Elmer Fudd and Bugs doing a vaudeville routine where Elmser asks “What’s high in the middle and round on both ends?” The answer: “O-Hi-O” as he jabs and slaps at Bugs. Or something like that. He eventually sprays him with a seltzer bottle.
Also, in my head I always remember that Pretenders song where every syllable in O-Hi-O is pronounced.
I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
Southtown it had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?
I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Saw this world past
Like the wind thorugh the trees
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?