Flaming Lips Receive Kiss from Oklahoma: Won Competiton for Official State Rock Song

On Monday, March 2, 2009, a joint resolution of the Oklahoma House and Senate declared the Flaming Lips 2002 Tune, "Do You Realize" as Oklahoma's official State Rock Song. Oklahoma already has a state folk song and state country song and with so many outstanding rock artists from Oklahoma, it was decided it was time for a state rock song. The Flaming Lips co-founder and lead singer, Wayne Coyne, was at the House of Representatives when it was announced. He celebrated with a big smile and a raised fist.

Flaming Lips Song: "Do You Realize"

"Do You Realize" was a Flaming Lips song featured in a land rover commercial but debuted in the 2002 album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. It is an uplifting song that asks.........."Do you realize" before each of the following.........."you have a beautiful face, happiness makes you cry" and "we're floating in space." The Flaming Lips are an alternative rock band that has been together since1983. The voters felt the lyrics fit with the beauty of Oklahoma.

Flaming Lips Song Triumphed Over Nine Finalists

The Oklahoma Historical Society accepted 454 songs that were nominated for the official state song. The list was narrowed down to 10 songs and then the people of the state cast their votes. Nearly 51 percent of the voters picked the Flaming Lips song, "Do You Realize" over nine other finalists. Some of the other finalists were Wanda Jackson, "Let's Have a Party", the Ventures, "Walk, Don't Run", Leon Russell, "Home Sweet Oklahoma", All- American Rejects, "Move Along" and the Call, "Oklahoma." Also in the finalists were "Heartbreak Hotel" written by an Oklahoman and recorded by Elvis Presley and "After Midnight" by JJ Cale.

Flaming Lips Alley

A co-founder and lead singer of Flaming Lips, Wayne Coyne told the House of Representatives, "It's a very absurd moment, but a beautiful, strange event in our lives." The Oklahoma City based group has already had a street named for them in a downtown area of Oklahoma City called Bricktown. It's called Flaming Lips Alley and Bricktown is undergoing a $2 billion renaissance with a water canal, baseball park, restaurants, bars and shops springing up all over the downtown area. Many art projects with both permanent and short-term installations take place in the area.

Click here for directions to Flaming Lips Alley in Bricktown. Make us Flaming Lips Central for your roadtrip. You are invited to post in our comments section about Flaming Lips Alley from your latest road trip or attendance to Flaming Lips Concerts. We hope to get a long list of names that we can show our city leaders. We hope to see them implement some improvements to the Alley.

Not many states have a state rock song but Oklahoma has been encouraging diversity with the arts. This included an invitation to Richard Florida who visited the city to teach about cultural creatives. He explains that cities with cultural creatives develop a healthy economy. Oklahoma City has a diverse element including Native Americans, Asians among others. Celebrities include the Flaming Lips and Country Star Toby Keith who has a grill in Bricktown.

Besides winning the competition for the official state rock song, the Grammy winning Flaming Lips have been involved in other activities in Oklahoma City. These include a 2008 Halloween Parade called "The March of 1000 Flaming Skeletons"and a 2008 New Year's Eve Freakout concert held in Oklahoma City. They just released a movie, "Christmas on Mars" which was filmed in their backyard in Oklahoma City which covers one block with four homes.

Sources:
The Oklahoman, George Lang
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1606171/20090303/flaming_lips.jhtml
http://www.flaminglips.com/content/band/people/wayne01.php