This week’s song goes back to Portland’s roots, and the story that many of us know about how Portland got its name.  (If you don’t know the story, you can read it here.)  But what if that famous event hadn’t gone the way that it did?  If we were called Boston, Oregon, would we be stuck in the shade of the larger, older and more famous Boston?

Well, this week’s song addresses these issues in a soulful, boy band kind of way.  “Toss of a Coin” proves once again that I’m not a natural tenor, and it makes up in length what last week’s song lacked.  Enjoy this historical/romantic ballad!

Lyrics:

Mr. Lovejoy and Mr. Pettygrove came together one day,

One was from Massachusetts, the other one from Maine.

The stakes were the name of their city, the game was best of three.

Pettygrove’s Portland won it, and the rest is history.

Chorus:

The toss of a coin: the difference between wrong or right.

The toss of a coin: so important in hindsight.

Maybe they did it in jest,

Maybe it was heaven-blessed,

But I can’t help as I ponder through the night

That we could have been the Boston of the west.

A long ago twist of fate effects both you and me.

With Portland, Maine we hold our own (we’re far cooler, actually.)

But what it tails had been heads, and Boston-named were we?

Would I even be here to sing, or would I live in Obscurity?

Chorus

And when I think back on that day when Pettygrove and Lovejoy came and met,

I can’t believe how lucky we were, and Portland will never forget

That one little bet -- the toss of a coin!

Chorus to End