How to restore iTunes after music files erased

So, I accidentally erased all my music files which were stored on an external hard drive. (Bone headed move, don't ask). Thankfully, all the files were backed up. I restored the external hard drive with all the music files but am not sure what the next move is. Couple of questions:
First, the iTunes application still has all my songs listed. Of course, when I click one, it says it cannot locate the file since, of course, the original file was accidentally deleted. If I simply re-import all the files from my backup harddrive will I have essentially duplicates of every song I have? That is to say 1 file that won't play and one file that will?
Second, should I erase the entire songlist from iTunes and then re-import?
Third, any other suggestions?
I backed everything up on TimeMachine.
Thanks,
John

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the reply.
Not sure how I would go about restoring the itl file.
The only files I lost were the actual music files. The hard drive with theiTunes application and other itunes files are fine and untouched but since the original files were deleted, iTunes can't locate them. (Unless I point it toward the restored drive one-by-one)
Does that make sense?
Thanks,
John

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