Story Behind The Song: "TULSA"
Tulsa is actually a very surrealistic
song. In order to get a Tulsa pulse, if you will, it's written in the
Western Swing genre. As the song starts, you'll hear the protagonist
lamenting about how he misses Tulsa, and curiously enough, how he
says Tulsa misses him as well.
He thinks back to the good times he had
in bars, using the metaphor of “Neon Signs” for the bars he
frequented and one particular one which he's sure they're holding a
long neck bottle just for him.
Here he also speaks of his wife and how
he can sometimes hear her thinking of him..... (?)
Like so many people in so many places,
he harps on the fact that since he left, Tulsa has changed, However
he's certain the city itself remembers him, as though it's a being,
or an entity itself, with a consciousness.
In the final verse it all comes
together. The protagonist was killed in an automotive accident in
1953 a long way from home. He feels his life was robbed from him.
This, of course explains how he “hears” his wife thinking
of him, earlier in the song and in his frustration of losing his
life, so long ago. His spirit then harps on how his grand kids today
are older than he was, when his life ended.
Ending the song he is certain that
Tulsa the city, the entity, the energy which lives on and has not
forgotten him at all. In between the lines, the protagonist sees
himself as part of the energy that is Tulsa, that he's been trying
all these years to re-connect with and feels that Tulsa likewise
feels it's not complete without him.
TULSA
1
WELL
I'M GETTIN' TIRED OF MISSING TULSA
AND TULSA'S TIRED OF WAITING JUST FOR ME
AND I MISS THOSE GOOD TIMES AT THEM NEON SIGNS
AND I KNOW TULSA'S GOT 'EM WAITIN' FOR ME
2
AT A NEIGHBORHOOD BAR BACK IN TULSA
THEY GOT A LONG NECK BOTTLE WAITIN' JUST FOR ME
AND MY WIFE, SHE RE-MARRIED BACK IN TULSA
BUT SOMETIMES I STILL HEAR HER THINKING OF ME
(Bridge)
SINCE I LEFT THE PLACE JUST HASN'T BEEN THE SAME
BUT TULSA HERSELF HAS NOT FORGOTTEN ME
I LEFT MY MARK SURE AS THE SUN SETS
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
3
THREE HUNDRED MILES OUT OF TULSA
IN '53 A PICKUP BLEW THE LIGHT
AND TODAY I PINE FOR MY STOLEN LIFE
YOU KNOW MY GRAND KIDS ARE OLDER THAN ME
(Bridge)
SINCE I LEFT THE PLACE JUST HASN'T BEEN THE SAME
BUT TULSA HERSELF HAS NOT FORGOTTEN ME
I LEFT MY MARK SURE AS THE SUN SETS
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
I SAID THAT TULSA REMEMBERS ME
AND TULSA'S TIRED OF WAITING JUST FOR ME
AND I MISS THOSE GOOD TIMES AT THEM NEON SIGNS
AND I KNOW TULSA'S GOT 'EM WAITIN' FOR ME
2
AT A NEIGHBORHOOD BAR BACK IN TULSA
THEY GOT A LONG NECK BOTTLE WAITIN' JUST FOR ME
AND MY WIFE, SHE RE-MARRIED BACK IN TULSA
BUT SOMETIMES I STILL HEAR HER THINKING OF ME
(Bridge)
SINCE I LEFT THE PLACE JUST HASN'T BEEN THE SAME
BUT TULSA HERSELF HAS NOT FORGOTTEN ME
I LEFT MY MARK SURE AS THE SUN SETS
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
3
THREE HUNDRED MILES OUT OF TULSA
IN '53 A PICKUP BLEW THE LIGHT
AND TODAY I PINE FOR MY STOLEN LIFE
YOU KNOW MY GRAND KIDS ARE OLDER THAN ME
(Bridge)
SINCE I LEFT THE PLACE JUST HASN'T BEEN THE SAME
BUT TULSA HERSELF HAS NOT FORGOTTEN ME
I LEFT MY MARK SURE AS THE SUN SETS
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
BUT TULSA, SHE REMEMBERS ME
I SAID THAT TULSA REMEMBERS ME
© 1998 Christopher R. Rehm, BMI
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