Here is just another reason Oklahoma is so cool: We are going to have an official state rock and roll song.
How cool is that? There is only one other state with an official rock song--my birth state, Ohio. The McCoys' Hang On Sloopy is heard at every Ohio State football game, played loud and proud--especially when we are kicking Michigan's butt up between their ear holes. Of course, Ohio also has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the place where Alan Freed coined the phrase "rock and roll" in the 50s. So Ohio is definitely a rockin' state.
And soon, my adopted home state of Oklahoma will join Ohio when we name our official state rock song after voting ends on November 15. Oklahoma already has an official state song ("Oklahoma"), folk song ("Oklahoma Hills"), country and western song ("Faded Love"), and waltz ("Oklahoma Wind"). But we NEED a rock and roll number to make us complete! And you can help.
I need some ideas of what song to nominate. At first I thought it would be very hard to beat JJ Cale's Tulsa Time--and still do. But then I started thinking of all the other possibilities. How about Eric Clapton doing Take Me Back To Tulsa (I'm Too Young To Marry)? Or The Gap Band's You Dropped A Bomb On Me? (GAP comes from three street names in the Greenwood section of downtown Tulsa: Greenwood, Archer, Pine.) There is my favorite country song of all time, David Frizzel and Dottie West singing You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma. But it ain't really rock and roll now, is it?
What about Russell Bridges--better known as Leon Russell, the Master of Space and Time. You could create a whole catalog of his songs to nominate, but it would have to be topped with his version of Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood from his Leon Live triple album set. Or why not just make that whole set our state's official album?
I am leaving off some of the newer bands, like Flaming Lips, Admiral Twin, Hanson, and the All American Rejects. Earn your way, fellas, then come see me.
There is Merle Haggard's Okie From Muskogee. That could certainly qualify. You can view the songs that have been nominated thus far and choose from those or come up with one of your own. Then go here and nominate it yourself, or share your song idea with me, and I will nominate it. Only restrictions are the artist must be from Oklahoma or the song be about Oklahoma.
You would think other states would also want their own rock song. Colorado has Rocky Mountain High, but you are on some kind of high if you think John Denver was a rock singer. North Carolina--those cretins who think the airplane was invented in their backward state--have unofficially adopted In My Mind I'm Going To Carolina, but not officially. And you would think that Nebraska would make The Boss's Nebraska their state song. It's a lovely little ditty about how 19 year old Charles Starkweather and 14 year old Caril Fugate went on a killing spree and knocked off 11 people. Who wouldn't want to sing that song at graduations and state fair openings?
So fire off those comments. Tell me what great rock song really says OKLAHOMA IS OK!
Hey--we have an official state everything else. Our state vegetable is the watermelon. Go figure...
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4 comments:
It'd never happen, but "She Don't Use Jelly" by the Flaming Lips as our state song would be the awesomest thing ever. It's the dumbest song about the dumbest thing by the smartest indie band to come out of Oklahoma.
And, Jeff, the Lips have been around since 1983--what's the statute of limitations until they can be considered a real band?
OK, I will make an exception for you, AP. I will nominate this song by the Lips. I do have one Flaming Lips album in my collection--and like some of their other stuff. I liken them to an Ohio band, Guided By Voices. One of my high school students was their original bass player. Then he became a lawyer. Which is worse: a bass player in a rock band, or a lawyer?
I say lawyer. But not by much.
Other nominations?
In the spirit of full disclosure, I don't live in OK. So I may be disqualified, but I can tell you what songs remind me of Oklahoma and music.
Already nominated:
Admiral Twin's "The Unlucky Ones" tells the tale of a band striving to make it from a location outside of the tradition pop/rock music path to success. (And they've been at it 10 years under that name and and additional 8ish as Mellodramatic Wallflowers (with some personnel adjustments)so ...not as long as The Lips, but still a commitment.) And it is a rock song, unlike many of those nominated which seem more country to me.
However if you don't mind a healthy country influence to your rock song, I'd say Steve Ripley and the Tractor's "Tulsa Shuffle" is a fine choice. 2, 3, 4,...
(and they are all better than Hang On Sloopy...although I do appreciate the image of the Buckeyes taking it to the Wolverines)
Anon makes a couple of good points in his (very good) comment.
First, I guess I have been looking at rock artists thru a rather old set of lenses. Or, perhaps it is better to say I have been listening with an outdated hearing aid. In any case, I suppose I have been rather narrow in deciding who is qualified to sing about our state. I will have to loosen my internal restrictions and allow for groups like the Flaming Lips and Admiral Twin. (And I like both groups. I saw the Twin at RiverWalk last year and really enjoy the way they have so much fun with each song.)
Second, Anon mentions that just about anything is better than Ohio's state rock song, Hang On Sloopy. I agree with that in the sense that Hang On Sloopy is very dated. So...should we be allowed to reassess our state's rock song, say, every 25 years? What was a great song for one generation may not appeal to the next. The rock I like does not appeal to my kids. So choosing one rock song to reflect an entire state for all time may not work. Should we place term limits on a state's official rock song?
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