FELIKS BANEL
Gov. Inslee responds to Sicko’s version of ‘Washington, My Home’
When KIRO Radio last week revisited the origins of the 1990s version of the state song, “Washington, My Home” by homegrown band Sicko, KIRO Radio had reached out to see if Governor Inslee was aware of the recording, and, if so, what he thought of it.
Inslee was (understandably) too busy managing the state’s COVID-19 response to initially weigh in on its merits.
But early Tuesday, a member of his staff provided the following statement from the governor:
Yes, I have been humming that version for 22 years now, at least when I am not humming Roobtubas and the Rondondas’ ‘Catchy in Wenatchee.’ (I liked their 1969 version best — by 1998 they had sold out to the Man and went all corporate.)
I always thought that Sicko spoke to a whole generation of Washingtonians much more than Gary Puckett and the Union Gap (they weren’t edgy enough to use “Walla Walla.” If they’d been ‘Gary Puckett and the Walla Walla’ we would never have heard of the Beatles).
Most people never knew that if you played Sicko’s original 45 backwards, it had the line, ‘Satan’s in the Pasayten, Satan’s in the Pasayten.’
Yes, Washington is my home and remember, if you are ever alone, click your Chuck’s heels three times and say, “There’s no place like the Kingdome.”
KIRO Radio will next ask the Governor what he thought of Ross Shafer’s 1985 attempt to install “Louie, Louie” as the state song.
You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News and read more from him here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks here.
