OREGON!
The folks at Travel Oregon know this state inside and out, top to bottom. See for yourself at traveloregon.com. But we recently discovered a surprising bit of Oregon trivia that we bet even they didn’t know about. It seems songwriting duo Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! was originally inspired by our fair state. The story goes that at the last minute Oregon withdrew financial backing in favor of building a dam or a fish ladder or something, and Oklahoma was a hasty and awkward substitute. Tonight, as proof, we present a performance of the rousing finale from the first draft of Rogers and Hammerstein’s OREGON!They couldn’t pick a better state with no sales tax
It ain’t too sunny and it ain’t too bright
Startin as a logger with a brand new axe
Soon be campin’ in a new campsite
New campsite, gonna treat you right
Gonna give you timber, filberts and salmon,
Pasture fer the llamas,
Berries for jammin’!
Beavers in the rivers, slugs on the rocks
Plen’y of dudes in Birkenstocks
Plen’y of chicks that don’t use soap
Plen’y of beer and medical dope
Ooooo-regon where the rain comes raining when it rains, (Oreguh-un)
And the logging camp can sure smell damp,
And more rain comes right behind the rain!
Ooooo-regon , my domestic partner and I, (domestic partner)
Drink a micro-brew, a pinot or two,
To forget what it’s like to be dry. (dry)
We’re singing this song to the land
From Grande Ronde all the way to LaGrande
And when we say
Dude! It’s just our attitude!
We’re only saying
You’re number one, Oreg-uh-un!
Oreg-uh-un, not Ore-gone!
Oregon, Oregon, Oregon, Oregon,
Oregon, Oregon, Oregon, Oregon,
We’re singing this song to our state
There’s no self serve, you’ll just have to wait
And when we say
Dude! We don’t mean to be rude!
We’re only saying
You’re number one, Oreg-uh-un!
Oreg-uh-un…O-R-E-G-O-N my friend
OREG-UH-UN!
Dude!
...See, Oregon is better than OK! Tune in next time when we present “Prius With a Fringe On Top”
Lyrics (c) Live Wire Radio and Tyler Hughs. All rights reserved blah blah blah don't copy them and say you wrote them or we'll be peeved and then things might get litigious and seriously, aren't the courts too full already with girlfriends suing their ex-boyfriends for the money they lent them to pay their electricity bill because they were about to be cut off and the guy's all, "It was a GIFT," and the girl's all, "It was a LOAN. Who gives somebody electricity bill money as a GIFT?," and Judge Judy's all, "I wasn't born yesterday!" and everybody shuts up. Anyway, don't steal our lyrics, y'all.
