Sometimes the music I listen to enters the real world in surprising ways. I’m not talking about a Fun. song that happens to be in every commercial these days, but like when everyone went Moldy Peaches bat-shit crazy after Juno. It’s neither bad nor good, it’s just odd. Two spheres of life suddenly overlap in a disconcerting way: the first lady of France publicly sings the line “shook a little turd out of the bottom of your pantsÛ, your school friends hang out with your camp friends, and the drug-fueled Flaming Lips’ song “Do You Realize??” is the official state rock song of Oklahoma.
I’m slow on the uptake for this, I realize that. Acknowledge that. Notice that, whatever. The song was named the state song in 2009, a mere seven years after it came out. “Do You Realize??” was the first single off of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Flaming Lip’s first really mainstream album. Like most of the album, the song balances large amounts of synthesizer and supporting guitar in an intricate melody. The lyrics are simple and relatable, and manage a degree of sincerity hard to attain in most pop songs. Wayne Coyne, the band’s lead singer, wrote the song for Steven Drozd, also in the band, who was withdrawing from heroin at the time. The combination of Drozd’s crying, the recent death of his father, the the general precariousness of existence inspired Coyne to pen the single.
Drugs, death, and existentialism make sense in the context of a pop song, but they don’t exactly make me think of Oklahoma. However, it did manage to beat out over 450 songs including “Sweet Home OklahomaÛ, “Endless Oklahoma SkyÛ, and more notably, “Heartbreak HotelÛ. “Do You Realize??” won by 51% and was approved by the Oklahoman senate, but the very next month the song met with opposition in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Republican state legislators attacked the band’s frequent use of profanity and other offensive language, and brought up bassist Michael Ivins’ tee shirt with the USSR’s hammer and sickle symbol on it as reason to oppose the song.
Eventually the governor Brad Henry got involved, and issued an executive order to make “Do You Realize??” the state rock song. That same year, Rolling Stone named it one of the best songs of the decade. Even now, this song is one of the most recognizable Flaming Lips songs out there, and has been used in countless commercials, movies, and TV shows. As far as detox songs go, this one ranks up there with “Here Comes The SunÛ, and as far as state songs go, this gives me a whole new level of respect for the Okies.
By Alice Quinlan