In America, every state has its own official state song. They are invariably corny yet proud thigh-slappers (with the exception of Indiana's On The Banks of the Wabash, Far Away), and they tend to include the name of the state in both title and rousing chorus. In a magnificent break from this tradition, Oklahoma has decided to nominate its own Official State Rock Song. (Fear not, good people of "the Sooner state", as it's affectionately known – Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! remains the non-rock anthem.) Somewhat magnificently, they have chosen Do You Realize?? by the Flaming Lips.
What a great country America is. First Obama, now this! The news might have been better if the song in question was something from further back in the Lips' psych-rock cannon – Jesus Shootin' Heroin, perhaps, or Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Death Porn Immortality Blues – but this is a minor quibble.
Most impressive is the fact that Do You Realize?? was not chosen by a state committee, or a Mercury prize-style politburo. The state legislature laid down the ground rules, specifying that all entrants must hail from Oklahoma, but the Lips were the choice of 21,600 people who voted for the song against 457 other tracks, including JJ Cale's After Midnight, the Ventures' Walk Don't Run and Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel, which was written by Oklahoma school teacher Mae Boren Axton.
In Britain, we don't have official county songs or metropolitan area songs – rock, thigh-slapping or otherwise. But maybe we should, especially if they can be up to the standard of Oklahoma's choice. What song might sum up Cumbria, Essex, Greater Manchester or Argyll & Bute? What rousing anthem could instil pride into the people of Glamorgan, or put a spring in the step of Kentish folk?
And if there was a national rock anthem, what would it be? Anything is allowed, as long as it's not God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols or Can We Fix It? by Bob the Builder.
