State Musical Themes and Song Credits

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Oklahoma

Well, what could be better than "Oklahoma!" (33k, plays for 52 seconds) unless it's "Tulsa Time" (25k, 2 minutes, 11 second play time). And here are the lyrics - for Oklahoma and Tulsa Time. I first found "Oklahoma!" in Vikram's MIDI-Fest, which appears to be gone now. So I can't say who sequenced it or performed this rendition, but I can, of course, say that Oklahoma! was written by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein for their musical, Oklahoma!.

I found "Tulsa Time" on another midi collection site - Bennie Shepherd's MIDI Page. Tulsa Time was written by Danny Flower, and Don Williams' recording of it was the 1978 Academy of Country Music Single of the Year. This rendition was sequenced by Robert Dupler on 3/24/96. The Tulsa Time lyrics are on an Eric Clapton (!?!) lyrics site (it was also recorded by Led Zeppelin!?), which includes an interesting copyright notice.

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Texas

There are, of course, a lot of great Texas songs, and I found several of them at a Songs of Texas site. The best songs on the site (for example, see The Orange Blossom Special) are those sequenced by Don Carroll, of Houston, who also has his own Web site (and who who gave me explicit permission to use his sequences!) So, I picked "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (12k,1:22). I entered the lyrics as I remember them. I remember looking them up at the library years ago, but my memory may also be influenced by the 1955 Mitch Miller recording.

(There used to be another rendition of The Yellow Rose of Texas as well as another version of the lyrics interesting folk music site called Contemplations from the Marianas Trench , or Lesley's Home Page. Lesley's lyrics use the phrase "Sweetest rose of color", alluding to the person who is reportedly the actual "Yellow Rose of Texas" - a mixed-race girl (yes, a teenager, as I understand it) whose name I can't remember but who was, by some accounts, the very person who was, um, keeping Generalissimo Santa Anna occupied in his tent the day that Sam Houston's Texican Army attacked and routed the Mexicans at San Jacinto (while yelling "Remember the Alamo"), effectively winning Texas's independence from Mexico.

And, of course, there is a very obvious Dallas song that I didn't think of until I happened upon it at Vikram's MIDI-Fest - the theme from "Dallas" (18k, 1:59).

And before we leave Texas, I'll note that the Songs of Texas site is trying to include Texas college songs. It claims to have SMU's fight song, "Peruna", but that's not "Peruna", that's just "Coming 'Round the Mountain". (Close, but no cigar.) The Aggie War Hymn is there, and even though I didn't go to A&M and this is not a sophisticated rendition, somehow it gave me a strong nostaligic feeling. I think I was influenced by my Judith's knowledge of (some of) the words. You see, Texas A&M and the University of Texas have the only two school fight songs I know of that refer to each other; something like this:
Texas: "Texas fight, Texas fight, and it's goodbye to A and M..."
A&M: "Well, its goodbye to Texas Uni-versity. So Long to the Orange and the Whi-i-ite..."

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California

I have no idea who or what might be appropriate for San Diego (Herb Alpert?), and I looked all over for California, Here I Come" (which isn't the official state song, by the way), and just had to settle for the theme from "The Beverly Hillbillies" (11k, 1:13) and "California Dreamin'" (39k, 2:50). Curiously enough, I found the Beverly Hillbillies theme on the Songs of Texas page. It was sequenced by Don Carroll, but I didn't see it on his Web site. I found California Dreamin' on a personal page that no longer exists. Neither the page nor the Midi sequence provided any attribution for it. It was written by John and Michelle Phillips and originally performed by The Mamas & the Papas.

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New York

I noticed that all familar New York songs are about the city, not the state. But Seaford is a suburb of New York City (Dad worked in the city), so "New York, New York" (45k, 3:02) isn't a bad choice. I have the MIDI file on my own Web site because it was offered as a zip file, and I had to download it and uncompress it for playing. I can't remember where I got it. According to the file, it was composed by Fred Ebb, arranged by Bob Lowde, and sequenced by GaryW0001@aol.com.

I certainly couldn't think of anything that related directly to Seaford, but several people suggested Billy Joel, who's from Levittown, just a few suburbs over in Nassau County. Here's Still Rock'n'Roll to Me (20k, 3:03), sequenced by D.W. Barnes, from Vikram's MIDI-Fest.

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Minnesota

I really didn't have any idea of where I might find a Minnesota song until I happened on one that works for Minneapolis, as well - the theme from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (13k, 59 seconds), also from the TV section of Vikram's MIDI-Fest. It's not an impressive rendition, but does capture the "theme" I wanted. It was written (and sung) by Sonny Curtis. This MIDI file was sequenced by Robert Rothe.

Oh, and then, of course, if I follow theme of associating pop/rock stars with their home towns, I should link to something from Bob Dylan. But I haven't found anything I like.

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New Jersey

Since Bruce Springsteen's New Jersey home is an important part of his music, Born in the U.S.A. seems doubly appropriate. I found it on a Finnish Bruce Springsteen site.

Unfortunately, Born in the USA - or at least this rendition - sounds awfully repititious in MIDI. But "Fire" (14k, 3:18), (which the Pointer Sisters recorded, but Springsteen wrote) sounds a lot better.

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Ohio

And I struggled with Ohio, too, but I think that I finally have something. To get at Cleveland, I was kind of hoping to find Randy Newman's song about a fire burning on the Cuyahoga River, though it would annoy a lot of Clevelanders who are trying very hard to put that era behind them. (I'm not quite ready to go swimming in the Cuyahoga River, but it definitely isn't in danger of burning any more, and Lake Erie has been cleaned up tremendously).

But I listened to Ohio's state song, "Beautiful Ohio" (26k, 2:02). I decided I liked it a lot, and it's even better when combined with the lyrics, which are reproduced from the Ohio Public Library Information Network.. (I originally found the state song midi file on Vikram's Midi-fest, but www.50states.com now seems to be a much better resource for all kinds of state information, including songs.)

To get something more familiar, I grabbed Marie Hardeman's rendition of The Wabash Cannonball (11k, 1:31) from the Songs of Texas page. Now I'm not at all sure where the Wabash Cannonball train ran (though I suspect that it wasn't Texas), and I admit that the town of Wabash is in Indiana, and the Wabash River forms much of the border between Indiana and Illinois - quite a distance from Ohio - but the source of the Wabash River is in Ohio, and it does flow into the Ohio River, and it's a classic song, so I kept it. Besides, someone posted lyrics, too (which were in a slow-loading gif, so I copied them here). New Jersey Oklahoma California New York Texas Minnesota Ohio Musical Migration Map Home


Lyrics

The Wabash Cannonball

Traditional Railroad Song


From the great Atlantic Ocean, To the wide Pacific shore;
From the queen of flowing mountains To the southland by the shore,
She's might tall and handsome, And quite well known by all;
She's the mighty combination of the Wabash Cannonball.

Listen to the jingle, The rumble and the roar,
As she guides along the woodland, Through the hills and by the shore.
Hear the mighty rush of the engine, Hear that lonesome hobo call.
You're trav'ling through the jungles On the Wabash Cannonball.

Return to Ohio songs


Yellow Rose of Texas

Traditional Song

There's a Yellow Rose in Texas That I am gonna see.
Nobody else could miss her, Not half as much as me.
She cried so when I left her That it like to broke her heart,
And if I ever find her We never more will part

Chorus:
She's the sweetest little rosebud That Texas ever knew.
Her eyes are bright as diamonds; They sparkle like the dew.
You may talk about your Clementine And sing of Rosa Lee.
But the Yellow Rose of Texas is the only girl for me.

Where the Rio Grand is flowing And the stars are shining bright,
She walks beside the river In the silent summer night.
I know that she remembers When we parted long ago
I promised to return And not to leave her so.

Chorus

Oh I am going to find her, For my heart is full of woe.
We'll sing the songs together We sang so long ago.
We'll play the banjo gaily And sing the songs of yore.
And the Yellow Rose of Texas Will be mine forevermore.

Chorus.

Return to Texas songs



Oklahoma!

Rogers and Hammerstein

OOOOOOOklahoma! Where the wind come sweepin' 'round the plain.
Where the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.

Oooo Oklahoma! Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk, and watch a hawk
Makin' lazy circles in the sky.

We know we belong to a land.
And the land we belong to is grand.
And when we say Yeow! Aipioeeay!
We're only saying "You're doin' fine Oklahoma,
Oklahoma, OK."

Return to Oklahoma songs


Last updated June 4, 1999 by Robin Richmond
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