Huckleberries Online

High Noon: Official Rock Song

Posted by DFO

March 13, 2009 12:07 p.m. • 33 comments

When news broke that the Oklahoma Legislature had proclaimed “Do You Realize??” by the Flaming Lips as the state’s official rock song, my eyes welled up with tears of gratitude. Thank heavens our own Legislature busies itself with more pressing issues. Like taxing brewskis or telling the federal government, Cartman-style, to “Respect our sovereignty!” Still, I felt a pang of jealousy. How come a backwoods state like Oklahoma gets an official state rock song? Come on, we’re just as backwoods as they are! Idaho does have an official state song: “Here We Have Idaho.” You know that one, right? No? The Legislature adopted it in 1931. I’m guessing you still may be able to hear it at, say, a Kiwanis or Rotary club event. Here’s the thing: Nothing is stopping our lawmakers from giving Idaho an official state rock song/Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: Washington, of course, has “Louie, Louie” as its official song. What song would be a good one to serve as Idaho’s official rock song?

33 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

PatrickH on March 13 at 12:19 p.m.
Is there a song that says anything about Up Yours Southern Idaho?
scootermom on March 13 at 12:47 p.m.
Private Idaho by the Bodeans.
OrangeTV on March 13 at 1:07 p.m.
I was going to say “Private Idaho” too, but was referring to the original B-52’s version.

Or maybe something by Boise’s Built to Spill, who are the only Idaho band I can think of to make any ripples on a national level…
toadman on March 13 at 1:21 p.m.
Idaho’s official rock song? Well, let’s see.. something appropriate.. I’ve got it! Sweet Home Alabama! It’s got the perfect balance of racism and twang!
joebu on March 13 at 1:24 p.m.
Steve Miller’s Rock n’ Me mentions Boise… I’d like to hear the crowd sing that badly at a rotary meeting or a lincoln days dinner.
Buddy Bob on March 13 at 2:25 p.m.
The B-52 did do Private Idaho. The BoDeans did Idaho and that is the one that has my vote!
Charlie on March 13 at 2:28 p.m.
Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Good Bye.
Alan on March 13 at 2:31 p.m.
Back On The Chain Gang, by The Pretenders
Liz on March 13 at 2:43 p.m.
yeah…B-52s Private Idaho. Majority rules…
Nick_Adams on March 13 at 2:49 p.m.
Given the way that our legislature is gutting education, I gotta go with “Mack the Knife”.
DFO on March 13 at 3:42 p.m.
>Or maybe something by Boise’s Built to Spill, who are the only Idaho band I can think of to make any ripples on a national level — OrangeTV<

Paul Revere & the Raiders originally formed in Boise. And lead singer Paul Revere was raised in Caldwell. Mebbe our anthem should be “Kicks (just seem to be gettin’ harder to find).”
DFO on March 13 at 3:44 p.m.
Mebbe a follow-up question should be: Is there anyone in the Idaho Legislature cool enough to sponsor a bill designating an official rock song for Idaho?
hmoffsuite on March 13 at 4:05 p.m.
I can recall seeing Paul Revere at the old Rathskellers on east Sherman. They played at the Rock, also. I was a bouncer there, then. ‘65
Duffer on March 13 at 4:42 p.m.
DFO>Paul Revere & the Raiders originally formed in Boise. And lead singer Paul Revere was raised in Caldwell. Mebbe our anthem should be “Kicks (just seem to be gettin’ harder to find).”

Shortly after they got together (~1960), I was in high school and they played gigs at the Miramar, a dance hall on Fairview Ave. in Boise. It was next to the Howdy Partner Drive-in which was one end of the gut with the other being Murray’s Drive-in downtown. As HMO recalls, I too remember them here at Rathskellers in the late ‘60’s. Good sounds!
Escapee on March 13 at 6:41 p.m.
The Four Seasons actually sang a song called “Idaho” on their “Genuine Life Imitation Gazette” album, a little-known record issued in the late-60s, when Artists were trying to sound Big and Important by doing “concept” albums.

A song for Idaho? How about “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”?

And finally, Mr. Duffer, Paul Revere and the Raiders recorded a track called, “Legend of Paul Revere”, in which Mark Lindsay, the singer, sings a line about frying burgers in Idaho.
brandxranch on March 13 at 10:50 p.m.
LADY IDAHO by Brenn Hill

Smooth land a risin’
Eastern Idaho plateau
White Cloud’s on the horizon
As up the highway I go

To where the mighty Buffalo
Starts its journey to the sea
I can feel Lady Idaho
Callin’ out for me
She’s reachin’ out for me

And oh that blue water’s rollin’
High and muddy in the spring
Feel her sweet but cold wind
Can you listen to her sing

Through the valley and the timber below
A whisper through the aspen tree
I can feel Lady Idaho
Callin’ out for me
She’s reachin’ out for me

Oh the color on the mountain
And the color in the sky
Autumn in the air
And a tear in my eye

For I could never stay I know
But my heart will never leave
For I can feel Lady Idaho
Callin’ out for me
She’s reachin’ out for me
She’s holdin’ on to me
wheels on March 14 at 9:33 a.m.
It would have to be a song by Paul Revere and the Raiders.Let’s get an online consensus and fwd it to Boise for legislative consideration. Ah the Rathskellar…my late Aunt Anne McIntyre owned it after it blossomed from her original Candys Malt Shop at that sherman location.And don’t forget ‘Rythym of the Falling Rain’ by the Cascades who became a house favorite.During the Hydroplane races in CDA the line to get into ” Rats” stretched around a city block in both directions as would be revelers waited patiently to get in.Those were the days.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.