SOMEWHERE WITH MY LIPS ON FIRE (TL) -- A while back, in a statewide survey, Oklahomans voted to make the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" the state rock song. All that remained was the state legislature dutifully signing off on the wish of the people and the governor's signature.
Today's Daily Oklahoman headline:
Oklahoma House votes down Flaming Lips'
state rock song "Do You Realize?"
What do the people know, anyway?
The Oklahoma House rejected the resolution apparently "because one of the band members wore a T-shirt bearing a symbol associated with the Communist Party while at the state Capitol last month."
The legislation is now officially dead this year.
According to the Oklahoman:
"Rep. Corey Holland, R-Marlow, debated against the resolution, saying he was bothered one of the band members wore a red T-shirt with a yello sickle and hammer on it when The Flaming Lips came last month to the Capitol when results of an online voting contest showed their song to be the clear-cut winner. "I was really offended by that," Holland said."
But my favorite reaction comes from Rep. Mike Reynolds, a Republican from Oklahoma City, who voted against the resolution because he remembered band members used offensive language several years ago when the city of Oklahoma City named an alley after the band.
Reynolds is quoted in the story: "Their lips ought to be on fire."
An upside for Wayne Coyne and company ... the Lips remain the people's champ and, at the same time, the bane of the status quo in the Sooner State. Not a bad place for a rock 'n' roll band.
UPDATE: From Okla. Gov. Brad Henry's office (where speechwriter Phil Bacharach is a big Lips' fan):
Gov Henry Overrides House,
Honors People's Choice of Lips
April 23, 2009
Oklahoma City -- Gov. Brad Henry will sign an executive order Tuesday, April 28, naming the Flaming Lips song, “Do You Realize??,” as the official rock song of Oklahoma.
In a statewide Internet vote held late last year, that song was the choice of 51 percent of more than 21,000 votes cast. Senate Joint Resolution 24 sought to codify that vote, but was narrowly defeated.
“For more than 20 years ago, Oklahoma’s own Flaming Lips have produced creative, fun and provocative rock music,” Gov. Henry said.
“The music of the Flaming Lips has earned Grammys, glowing critical acclaim and fans all over the world. A truly iconic rock ‘n’ roll band, they are proud ambassadors of their home state.
“They were clearly the people’s choice, and I intend to honor that vote.”
The signing of the executive order will held at 2 p.m. April 28 at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.
Kudos to Governor Henry for approving the song anyway.
11,000 Oklahomans chose the song, and they should not have been punished because one perpetual adolescent (in this case, one of the band members) wore a symbol of horrific genocide and systemic destruction on his T-shirt as an ironically-hip fashion statement.
I’d also like to bring some clear-eyed rationality to the discussion.
I’m from Oklahoma, and I’d just ask a fairly simple question: Can we agree that it’s high time to stop treating communist symbols as cute? Can we knock it off with the “communism chic” schtick?
The hammer and sickle represents a boot stomping on collective humanity’s face. It represents Pitesti Prison, the disappearance of tank man in Tiananmen Square, the gulag archipelago, the torture of innocent Buddhist monks and nuns in Tibet, those summarily executed by Che Guevera in Cuba, the “Cultural Revolution” in China, the killing fields in Cambodia … and on and on and on.
Tens of millions of innocents died at the hand of dehumanizing communist regimes (interestingly, the 20th century’s decades of mayhem were predicted by the syphilitic Nietzsche, who wrote of “brotherhoods with the aim of the robbery and exploitation of the non-brothers” that would follow his vision of the future).
The hammer and sickle is a hateful symbol, and it should have stopped being "cool" to wear it around the time the KGB's formerly secret records detailing crimes against humanity started being released.
How do we think victims of communist regimes feel when they see this symbol?
Let’s have the moral courage to call this symbol what it is. It should be every bit as repulsive to Americans as as a Confederate flag … or a Nazi swastika.
That said, I’m glad the Lips’ song is the new official state rock song of Oklahoma! It’s a great song!
Posted by: Houghton | April 24, 2009 at 06:16 PM