I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (Coke version)

I'm a bit backlogged in updating the blog. I woke a few days ago with this classic ditty from the 70s: but, to be sure, it was the commercial jingle and not the adapted pop song that arose in my mind that day. If you hadn't known this before, the song is a rare instance in which the commercial came before the later radio hit. True fact!

Artist: The Hillside Singers
Year: 1971
Rating: Warm

Colt 45 Beer Jingle

Wow. That is quite the sustained (implied) orgasmic burst from our friends at the National Brewing Company (now owned by Pabst).

Just the tiniest snippet from this 80's malt liquor commercial entered my consciousness in the wee hours this morning. No known mental antecedent for it.


Artist: unknown
Year: c. 1980s
Rating: I'll pass. But do check out their Billy Dee Williams ads!

Chun King Jingle

Woke up in the middle of the night with the '80s Chun King Chinese food jingle in my head:

"Try Chun King for a beautiful body/Try Chun King for a beautiful taste." 

For those who don't remember the Chun King line of food products, it was basically a can of veggies, meat, and sauce that comprised a Chinese dish such as chow mein or egg foo young. The food was described in the marketing copy as "Oriental" and "exotic," targeted to the very white bread American set. Note that the company was started by an Italian-American entrepreneur. Très authentic!

 

We always got their packaged crispy noodles when I was a kid. I remember the veggies as mainly consisting of mung bean sprouts and soggy, thinly-sliced celery. 

Update 2025!

I wasn't able to find the song anywhere online when I originally wrote this post in 2010, but thanks to the anonymous reader who provided the link above when they encountered the blog back in 2013. I'm amazed the video still lives on YouTube after a dozen or more years. I know it's odd that I'm updating from 15 years into The Future, but, call me an obsessive completist!

Artist: Unknown
Year: 1981 (this version)
Rating: Hot!

Zest Commercial

A rude awakening this morning, with this cheerful '80s jingle ringing in my head. Anyone know who the actress is? She looks *so* familiar.

I couldn't imagine why a soap commercial would be on my mind, until Amber reminded me that I've been seriously dissatisfied with the soap we've been buying lately. Gotta change brands, but being a natch grocery shopper, Zest is definitely not in my future.

Year: 1987
Rating: Tepid

Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese/Interplanet Janet

Oh my god! "I hanker for a hunk of cheese" was the very first thing that arrived in my brain as I woke this morning. Why would an educational jingle from thirty years ago be in my immanent mental scope without obvious provocation? I don't even crave cheese at the moment.

Brought to you by: DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, ABC
Lyrics/Music: Lynn Ahrens
Voice: Lennie Weinrib
Year: 1977
Rating: Warm

This one then segued quite naturally into one of my favorite School House Rock songs, Interplanet Janet:



Honestly, watching this video and hearing the song again after so many years just gave me goosebumps right up to my head. "A solar system Ms. from a future world." I wonder if Gloria Steinem officially endorsed that lyric.

Brought to you by: School House Rock
Music/Lyrics: interestingly enough, Lynn Ahrens again!
Year: 1978
Rating: "The mercury on Mercury was much too high"

Mack the Knife by Louis Armstrong

The Louis Armstrong version of this song is certainly the definitive in my mind, though I will admit that it usually morphs into the McDonald's commercial eventually.

Year (original): 1928 (Weill/Brecht)
Year (Armstrong): 1956
Rating: Luke Hot