Every good Michigander knows that at the end of the "Toledo War" Michigan ceded its claim to the Toledo strip in exchange for the Upper Peninsula. At the time, Ohio thought it got the good part of the bargain but even in terms of chili (Lafayette Coney Dogs vs. Tony Packo's Hungarian Chili) we made out like bandits.
Listening to the Low Anthem's To Ohio the other day though, I have to admit that in the battle of great songs that name drop the state, Ohio kicks Michigan butt. If Neil Young was the only one ever to write a song about Ohio, they'd win the war.
As far as poetic flow, it's hard to beat "Ohio." It's short; it begins and ends with "O." But Ohio has good geography going for it too: Midwestern with a touch of the South. Which brings me to my other favorite Ohio song, Gillian Welch 's Look at Miss Ohio. A friend bought me Soul Journey not long after it came out because he loved it and thought I would too. He was right, especially that song.
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