It's official: Oklahoma is now hip. Until recently the song most of us associated with the state was Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee." Yesterday, Governor Brad Henry declared the 28th of April "Flaming Lips Day" punctuating his defense of "Do You Realize??" to be named Official State Rock Song.

Anyone who knows the tune will understand why it made the cut. Singer Wayne Coyne seems to channel a universal truth with the lyrics "Do You Realize/that everyone you know someday will die/and instead of saying all of your goodbyes/let them know/you realize that life goes fast/it's hard to make the good things last/you realize the sun doesn't go down/it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round." Refreshing words to live by in these times of swine-flu panic and general falderal.

The Flaming Lips [ tickets ] performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2007 in Manchester, TN. LiveDaily’s Tim Mosenfelder was there to get photos of the group in action.