Oklahoma is from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical Oklahoma!
Richard Rodgers wrote the music and Oscar Hammerstein II the lyrics.
The song “describes the landscape and prairie weather in positive language. It further emphasizes the wholesome aspects of rural life, and the steadfast dedication of the region’s inhabitants, against the overtly stated formal backdrop of the territory’s impending admission to the Union in 1907.”
The musical was made into a film in 1955, which uses the song for its overtures.
In 1953, the state legislature chose the song for their state song.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose “Oklahoma!” as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
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