Semi-OT: The Jingle Is Dead
Wade Hampton Miller
points...
whm
The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead
With more and more pop songs selling products, the world of advertising is
being turned upside down.
By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff | January 9, 2005
In 1929, a barbershop quartet in Minneapolis sang a song about breakfast cereal
on the radio. So began the long, lucrative, endearing, and excruciating heyday
of the jingle, when cheerful tunes about things for sale permanently lodged
themselves in people's brains. Humming consumers would then go out and buy
Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat, or double their pleasure with Doublemint
gum, or be a Pepper.
But the jingle, as anyone with a television knows, is a vanishing art form. It
is too quaint, too corny, too oldschool for our ironic times. Naming your
product in a commercial for your product is just tacky, say advertising
executives. Modern pitchmen prefer pop songs that create a mood or spark an
emotional association or conjure up some sort of vague but potent
lifestyle-oriented craving that, if all goes as planned, attaches to a product
and translates to a sale.
Which leaves the jingle writers scrambling to adapt to a world that has
suddenly turned its back on their wares. How suddenly? Ten years ago Eric
Korte, vice president and music director at the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi,
was commissioning original music for 90 percent of the company's campaigns.
This year, more than half of his workload involves licensing published songs,
and the trend is only gaining momentum.
“The jingle,” Korte says, “is dead.”
Of course there are exceptions. The Oscar Mayer wiener theme has been in
constant rotation since 1963, and good money says everyone reading this
newspaper can sing it start to finish. And jingles are still vital in local and
regional markets. Notes Jon Aldrich, who teaches what he believes is the
world's only jingle writing course at Berklee College of Music and pens jingles
for K-B toys, Filene's, and Jordan's Furniture: "Everyone knows about Coca-Cola
and McDonald's. They don't need ditties about their stuff. But Joe's Pizza
Place needs to tell people where they are."
In New York and LA, however, music houses -- the companies that for decades
have supplied the advertising industry with original music to accompany their
national television and radio commercials -- are closing their doors in droves.
Phil Ashley, cofounder of New York-based Rocket Music, folded his company in
2002. After creating jingles for Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Visa, Federal Express, KFC,
and Gillette, Ashley says his decision was a simple matter of confronting
reality. Demand for custom music was dwindling. Fees were plummeting. During
his last few years in business, instead of composing original tunes, Ashley was
rearranging "Route 66" for Johnny Rotten to sing in a Mountain Dew spot. Or not
getting called at all.
"It's a cultural change. It's history moving on," says Ashley. "We're competing
against a much larger pot of sources, and it just doesn't make sense to bang
our heads against the wall. I know some people in my field are waiting for a
better day. But I don't think it's likely to come."
For the shrinking circle of diehards, the business model has become downright
Darwinian -- less a question of who's writing the stickiest song and more about
who's able to adapt to the changing environment. Joey Levine is a former
bubblegum-pop songwriter ("Sugar Sugar" and "Mony Mony" are his confections)
who founded Crushing Music, the field's biggest commercial music house, in the
late 1970s. Levine's first jingle was an inescapable Wheaties spot ("Too bad
you didn't have your . . .") and over the next two decades he created indelible
themes for the Peter Paul candy company ("Sometimes you feel like a nut"),
Toyota ("You asked for it, you got it" and "Oh, what a feeling"), Budweiser
("This Bud's for you"), and Diet Coke ("Just for the taste of it").
Like Ashley, Levine found himself pouring more and more time into writing new
arrangements for cover songs: Mike and the Mechanics' "All I Need Is a Miracle"
for Verizon, for example, and the "Get Smart" theme for American Express. He
realized he'd have to branch out even further and totally revamp the services
he offered if he wanted to stay in business. So Levine accepted work penning
themes and underscores for television programs.
"I'm a songwriter by trade, and I miss writing songs," Levine says. "Change is
tough, but necessary, so you don't become obsolete. My business is
significantly smaller. It's hard to survive. The record labels are music houses
now."
The use of pop songs in advertising isn't new. What's changed is the
willingness -- or more accurately, the eagerness -- of labels and artists to
allow their material to be licensed for commercial purposes. Case in point: In
the 1980s, Sting refused to allow the lyrics to the Police song "Don't Stand So
Close to Me" to be used in a deodorant ad. In 2000, a major Jaguar campaign
featured the rock star meditating in the back seat of an S-Type to the tune of
his song "Desert Rose." That track had been released a year earlier on the
album "Brand New Day," a sluggish seller that rocketed up the charts on the
heels of the ad campaign.
Today, the stigma (of a musician being perceived as a sellout) and the once
steep price tag attached to this collision of art and commerce have been vastly
diminished -- fueled in large part by years of mounting losses in the recording
industry.
"Once upon a time [selling a song to an advertiser] was a pact with the devil,"
says Gregory Grene, music producer at Foote Cone & Belding, whose clients
include Hilton, Kraft, Taco Bell, and Diet Coke. "Now totally legitimate
artists are thrilled to perform mini-concerts for ad people. The whole paradigm
has shifted. The labels have no money to promote music. They're the driving
force behind this."
Indeed. Desperate for alternative promotional and revenue sources, the major
record labels have quietly established marketing units that exist exclusively
to reach out to potential advertising partners. Keith D'Arcy was hired by
Sony/BMG in April to pitch recordings from the company's catalog and respond to
the needs of ad agencies searching for music. He's one of 33 employees at
Sony/BMG who work with advertisers.
"We're creative experts that are on call to the ad community," says D'Arcy.
"Eric Korte [at Saatchi] can call me with a concept and within three hours I'll
have a compilation of songs to upload for him. It used to be that only big
songs got licensed, but now even the major labels are paying attention to the
opportunity that's created by having a new band in a cool ad."
And yet, Darcy concedes, one of the key things that's been sacrificed in the
glut of pop music licensing is the most basic of advertising goals: product
branding. Familiar songs may evoke an emotional response -- targeting baby
boomers with classic rock tunes has been especially popular in recent years,
with Led Zeppelin's "Rock 'n' Roll" careening through Cadillac commercials and
the Rolling Stones singing "Start Me Up" for Microsoft. But there's rarely an
explicit association between the song and the product being pitched, and that
can cut both ways.
On the one hand, companies are increasingly looking at unorthodox ways of
reaching a generation of young, sophisticated consumers who are turned off by
traditional advertising -- which accounts for the recent collaboration between
mainstream retailer Kmart and the cutting-edge Danish garage rock band the
Raveonettes.
"You're trying to create a club for people who don't want to join clubs," says
Ron Lawner, CEO of Boston-based Arnold Advertising, whose 1999 VW campaign
using British singer-songwriter Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" sparked a huge surge
in the late artist's album sales. "We've moved on to messaging that includes
more of your life than just the product."
But the connection -- like so many aspects of modern life -- is ephemeral.
D'Arcy notes that advertisers are licensing songs for shorter and shorter
periods of time, sometimes just a few weeks, and considering the speed at which
modern culture moves and changes, the ad world's constantly shifting landscape
of rock tunes makes a certain sense. One has to wonder if product loyalty is
headed in the same direction: destined to become as fleeting as the shelf life
of a pop song.
The bottom line is we're in a hurry. It takes much longer for a company to
build equity -- adspeak for audience familiarity -- with an original jingle
than a pop tune, which comes with an immediately captive audience. And in
practical terms it takes much longer to write and produce an original piece of
music -- which is roughly the equivalent of a horse and buggy in these days of
instantly downloadable digital music files.
The future of the jingle looks bleak, but Levine isn't giving up. He's
downsized Crushing Music from 10 staff writers to a revolving stable of
freelancers who can crank out musical moods on demand, from abstract sound
designs -- a few beats on a synth pad, a chorus of whooshes -- to faux Bowie.
He's radically reduced his once-labyrinthian network of studios. And in what is
perhaps the most telling nod to the jingle writer's decline, after nearly 30
years in business Levine is changing his company's name.
"Certain people have certain perceptions. If I put this under a new banner, and
show you new people, some young lions, you never know," Levine says. "I might
get hotter."
Ken Cashion
wrote:
>This was on the Boston Globe's website. I thought it raises some interesting
>points...
>
>whm
<big snip of interesting stuff>
>
>The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead
Thanks for the post, Wade, I am interested in this stuff.
While reading, it I couldn't help but think of where I had
read this lament before and when I thought of the Jingle Shops as Song
Factories, I did: Tin Pan Alley.
Tin Pan Alley fell apart when the better writers moved from
Tin Pan Alley and NYC to California and Glorius Hollywood.
But if there is a good idea that is aimed at the heart and
soul, it will cycle back around in time. A new bunch of hearts and
souls will have to "discover" it and "invent" it; then it will be
"theirs."
When we reduce the issue as far down as we can go, we only
have energy (sound) stimulating the head, heart, and soul -- all the
complexities come from who, what, how, why, where, and when.
The mind-numbing noise will continue to escalate but the eye
and ear has limitations, so there will be a clever subtilety return
to some arts at some point in the future.
Change happens because of the natural competition of the young
people to displace the old people...change in everything. The more
affluent the young, the greater and more rapid the change. If change
is rapid enough and great enough, it doesn't appear as being
evolutionary but as revolutionary, flighty, and whimsical.
I don't be around when any recycling of the arts takes place.
Ken
Steve Comeau
"Ken Cashion" <kcas...@datasync.com> wrote in message
news:6d4au0hqlc5aar8e3...@4ax.com...
> On 12 Jan 2005 07:06:01 GMT, hoj...@aol.comHowdy (Wade Hampton Miller)
> wrote:
>
> >This was on the Boston Globe's website. I thought it raises some
interesting
> >points...
> >
> >whm
>
> <big snip of interesting stuff>
> >
> >The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead
>
> Thanks for the post, Wade, I am interested in this stuff.
> While reading, it I couldn't help but think of where I had
> read this lament before and when I thought of the Jingle Shops as Song
> Factories, I did: Tin Pan Alley.
> Tin Pan Alley fell apart when the better writers moved from
> Tin Pan Alley and NYC to California and Glorius Hollywood.
>
My thanks to Wade as well for that topical tidbit.
Just to expound a little more on Tin Pan Alley's demise. From the
songwriters hall of fame website: "In the beginning of the 1950s, radio play
and disc jockeys became more prominent, and records were being produced for
sale to the public-mostly targeted toward teenagers--rather than sheet music
created for adults who bought music for their home. Publishers were no
longer in charge of the promotion of a song, and from 1953 to the present,
rock and roll dominated the charts."
Pop culture focused more on the performer, e.g. Elvis Presley, than the
song. Then the Brill Building songwriters in NYC had a short run churning
out tunes for these teen idol performers until the early 1960's when the
singer/songwriter became popular. Some of the Brill Building writers were
among those singer/songwriters, e.g. Carole King.
Check out the songwriter's hall of fame for more:
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/inductees_by_era.asp
All the best,
Steve
Ken Cashion
Thanks, Steve.
In my studying of music from '00-1939, something occurred to
me, but there was no easy way to demonstrate it until I got to
thinking about sheet music sales and the songs themselves.
I decided that the average guy on the street from '00 to at
least 1930 knew more about music than the guy walking the street
today. This is even more interesting when we consider the amount of
music that we have available today compared to then.
The phonograph converted participants to spectators -- or
performers to listeners only.
It is hard for us to realize that the sale of sheet music ever
supported the music industry, and every drug store, department store,
even grocers, had a display of sheet music. Travelling sheet music
salesmen would go around promoting the songs and sheet music.
(The very good British production "Pennies From Heaven" uses this as
the central theme.)
All history is interesting to me because I can learn so much
from it; all people are interesting to me because I can learn so much
from them.
Cheers -- Ken
Ed Maier
> This was on the Boston Globe's website. I thought it raises some
> interesting points...
>
> whm
>
>
> The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead
>
Remember the TV commercials
Bucky Beaver singing "Brusha-brusha-brusha, with the
new Ipana..."
Or "Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick"
Or "I'd walk a mile for a mild, mild Camel"
Or "Tide's in; dirt's out"
Or the TV commercial where the announcer opens a
cigarette by tearing along it the seam and saying,
"So round, so firm, so fully packed; so free and
easy on the draw."
Or the Pall Mall commercial on a naval ship where
the announcement comes over the loudspeaker, "The
smoking lamp is lighted in all authorized places",
and the officer walks over to the sailor and says,
"Here, Jorgensen, have one of mine."
Or the Camel commercial, "More doctors smoke Camels
than any other cigarette."
Or the cigarette commercial (Old Gold?) line,"Gives
you a treat instead of a treatment."
Geeze, no wonder we started smoking in our teens.
Ed Maier
Carlos Alden
> The phonograph converted participants to spectators -- or
> performers to listeners only.
> It is hard for us to realize that the sale of sheet music ever
> supported the music industry, and every drug store, department store,
> even grocers, had a display of sheet music. Travelling sheet music
> salesmen would go around promoting the songs and sheet music.
> (The very good British production "Pennies From Heaven" uses this as
> the central theme.)
>
> Cheers -- Ken
Bingo, Ken. Not only has the public been converted to spectators, but also
to CONSUMERS. Music is a consumer item. Best left to professionals. Don't
touch that violin, it sounds terrible. Leave that horn stuff in the schools
for kids, but don't play it for fun once you're out of marching band.
I'm a huge proponent of folk music because it's one of the few musical
endeavors where an amateur, no matter how bad, how new, or how untalented,
can contribute and have fun. Jam sessions are important to keep up the
notion that music is something we can make together and create, rather than
being a sideline observer.
Not saying there shouldn't be a place for enjoying really well done music,
of course. But I agree with your observation that music used to be
something that was owned by the common person. Everybody could play
something. I was in a Victorian-era banjo group for a while, playing
four-part classical banjo stuff (I know, I know - I've talked about this
before). It came from a time when many work places had their own little
quartet or orchestra, with banjos, guitars, mandolins, vocal groups - and
people met for the purpose of sharing music.
Carlos
Carlos Alden
> Remember the TV commercials
You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with
Pepsodent! (Green Cement!)
Carlos
Al Evans
Miller <hoj...@aol.comHowdy> wrote:
> This was on the Boston Globe's website. I thought it raises some interesting
> points...
>
> whm
>
>
> The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead [...]
That was an interesting article (especially for someone who doesn't
listen to radio or watch TV any more:-)
I found out the other day from a post on a mailing list that 2004 was
the fiftieth anniversary of the Roto-Rooter jingle. Here it is, in all
its pristine glory, in several versions:
<http://www.rotorooter.com/company/jingle_1.php>
--Al Evans--
Misifus
-Raf
--
Misifus-
Rafael Seibert
mailto:rsei...@cox-internet.com
http://www.ralphandsue.com
Neil O'C
For some unfathomable reason, a few weeks ago I started humming (and
singing under my breath) "..You're in luck when you got a McCulloch
chainsaw.....You got power by the hour in your hands..."
Remember the two beavers?
I doubt I'll associate a lot of the re-treaded pop songs with their
accoiated produts. But 30 years later I can rememebr two beavers
singing about chainsaws....viva los jingles!
Neil O'C
Neil O'C
Ken Cashion
wrote:
>Ken Cashion from the land of kcas...@datasync.com wrote:
>
>> The phonograph converted participants to spectators -- or
>> performers to listeners only.
>> It is hard for us to realize that the sale of sheet music ever
>> supported the music industry, and every drug store, department store,
>> even grocers, had a display of sheet music. Travelling sheet music
>> salesmen would go around promoting the songs and sheet music.
>> (The very good British production "Pennies From Heaven" uses this as
>> the central theme.)
>
>>
>> Cheers -- Ken
>
>Bingo, Ken. Not only has the public been converted to spectators, but also
>to CONSUMERS. Music is a consumer item. Best left to professionals. Don't
>touch that violin, it sounds terrible. Leave that horn stuff in the schools
>for kids, but don't play it for fun once you're out of marching band.
And live music is no longer about music but drama -- it is
theatre and no one attends to listen. The only thing the audience
can do is yell...the whole time. (And yes, I have written about this
child-phen.)
Not all audiences are this way...only the ones where the real
money is.
I used to stay at a hotel in NYC where many musicians stayed.
These were all conservatory-trained, classical musicians. I
conversed with many of them in the hotel restaurant. It occurred to
me that each night in NYC there were a bunch of these musicians trying
to find work for scale while a bunch of young guys who knew three
chords but have a truck load of equipment, packing the crowds in.
Stange...and yet, again STRANGE.
.
>I'm a huge proponent of folk music because it's one of the few musical
>endeavors where an amateur, no matter how bad, how new, or how untalented,
>can contribute and have fun. Jam sessions are important to keep up the
>notion that music is something we can make together and create, rather than
>being a sideline observer.
I was of like mind about folk music when I was doing concerts
but now I have decided that there is lost songs in popular, commercial
music of '00-1939 and not just ethnic folk music. So I have decided
that I would start learning that and actually doing some of it around.
Unfortunately, it is not nearly as easy to play as folk music. I know
how to modernize it but then, wouldn't that be defeating what I am
trying to do?
I am still wrestling with this. It isn't simple and if I
can't reconcile it in my mind, I will not waste my time doing it.
>Not saying there shouldn't be a place for enjoying really well done music,
>of course. But I agree with your observation that music used to be
>something that was owned by the common person. Everybody could play
>something.
> I was in a Victorian-era banjo group for a while, playing
>four-part classical banjo stuff (I know, I know - I've talked about this
>before). It came from a time when many work places had their own little
>quartet or orchestra, with banjos, guitars, mandolins, vocal groups - and
>people met for the purpose of sharing music.
You mentioned the Victorian period and that was a good
reference. In those days, it was expected that a young person should
have a good education in the arts, as well in the more mundane and
commercial subjects.
Each kid in the family was expected to play something and
generally, they each would chose a different instrument, but the
mechanics of music applied regardless. So the older children would be
teaching the younger, and the particularly good ones might be earning
money in the neighborhood teaching other young neophyte musicians.
You didn't mention the accordian orchestras. I think the
accordian might have been the last serious (yes, serious) instrument
promoted for strickly commercial reasons.
Then I remember the electric organ for its simplicity and
there were demos in malls, etc. It was the ease of making music
without knowing music that sold these instruments. The dumbing-down
had begun.
I think that was the last commercial public promotion of
music-making. (Sorry, Esteban, doesn't measure up.)
Picayune (where I live) has two band stands, only they don't
call them that and music is never played there. The high school used
to have little ensembles and they would play different places...that
is history now and only in the last 15 years.
Ken
Chris Rockcliffe
Good post Carlos,
In the UK there was a growing work-related musical movement from the mid
19th century onwards. Musicians and singers were attached to ensembles tied
to their mills, factories, foundries and collieries etc. and as they were
also highly competitive in a friendly rivalry way - the standard was very
high.
In the north of England there was a big brass band movement and in other
areas - as you say - amateur orchestras and choral groups. Some are still
world famous recording entities like The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band
or the Felling Male Voice Choir - but most are dying out fast in this world
of short-life pop music consumption.
Here in Buxton - in line with many northern towns there has been a long
tradition of supporting brass bands in particular and in the summer they
play on Sundays in the park's bandstand to quite large crowds.
CR
Ken Cashion
Giving away cigarettes to servicemen sorta' encouraged it,
too.
Ed, I have a mess of radio transcriptions and I couldn't
believe some of the commercials that I used to take for granted. I
went through and copied a whole cassette of just cigarette commercials
-- one after another. Man, if that wouldn't make you want to light
up, nothing would!
From the first time Sir Walter Raleigh inhaled (and exhaled)
people knew smoking was bad for them. The first Stuart King over
Britain, James I, approved a charter in 1606 for a company to farm
tobacco in the New World and he ended up writing essays on its evils.
This known naughty thing was always recognized as such by the
manufacturers.
Being good at marketing, they turned it into a marketing tool.
Look at how many commercials made a back-handed reference to this.
The choice of doctors. Easy on your throat -- your "T-zone", not a
cough in a carload, etc.
LSMFT - Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco...so round, so firm,
so fully packed, so free and easy on the draw. Merle Travis had a
song with those lines in it -- "So round, so firm, so fully packed;
She's my gal. So complete from front to back, She's my pal. Toasted
by the sun, I'm a son-of-a-gun, if she don't make my five-o'clock
shadow come around at one" (another radio ad). And he sang, "So
round, so firm, so fully packed; She' my pal, I would walk a mile for
one of her sweet smiles...etc."
And there was the Phil Harris song when he had his very good
Sweet Band..."Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that cigarette; Puff Puff Puff, til
you smoke yourself to death. Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate that
you hate to make him wait, but you just gotta have another cigarette."
Phil Harris died of lung cancer. There is no written account
of his conversation at the gate.
Ken
Ken Cashion
wrote:
Now marketing is so blah, there are only a few around that we
can even identify the product while the thing is on. I only hear
commercials when watching TV with my wife. For this reason, unless I
put a tape or DVD on, we don't watch together.
Why do I feel insulted when I see a commercial these days?
I used to say that I would respect my judgment more when I
could no longer do the TV Guide crossword puzzle in 4 minutes.
I don't attempt them anymore. They are too hard. I don't
know who those people are or what programs they are talking about.
Ken
Wade Hampton Miller
>You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with
>Pepsodent! (Green Cement!)
>
Here's one my fiendish little friends and I used to sing:
Comet - it makes your TEETH TURN GREEN!
Comet - it tastes like GASOLINE!
Comet - it'll make you VOMIT!
So get some Comet and vomit today!
Wade Hampton Miller
Chugiak, Alaska
Check out some of my friends' sites, if you like:
http://jpstrings.com/
http://mcalisterguitars.com/
http://www.nationalguitars.com/
http://www.bluelioninstruments.com/
Chris Rockcliffe
> And there was the Phil Harris song when he had his very good
> Sweet Band..."Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that cigarette; Puff Puff Puff, til
> you smoke yourself to death. Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate that
> you hate to make him wait, but you just gotta have another cigarette."
> Phil Harris died of lung cancer. There is no written account
> of his conversation at the gate.
Written by Merle Travis for Tex Williams; the release not only saved Tex
Williams' waning career, but also became Capitol Records' first
million-seller. Travis later released his own version. These two are the
most commonly heard versions, although Phil Harris also had a hit with the
song. (My mother had the Harris version on a 78)
Actually I sang this one at the local acoustic music club just before Xmas.
Done as a western swing band style number with a guitar, fiddle and dobro -
it went down great.
The previous week we'd had one of our number try to ban the smokers from the
session and the said lady was unaware that both the owner and his wife
smoke. They made some facetious comments about it as we left...
The day I performed it there was also an Govt. announcement that a total
smoking ban in pubs which also sell food (kind of a cop-out) will come into
play in 3 years time. It was a bit topical all-round in fact and so it got
a good laugh.
Tonight in fact we have a local western swing band called The Deep Ellum
Playboys - guitar, piano, fiddle and woodwind/sax playing a concert. I've
no idea how good they are yet, but the guitarist went to Texas to research
the music some time back and the fiddle player is very good. Should be
interesting.
From the New York Times, Oct. 13, 1985
Country-western songwriter and entertainer Sollie "Tex" Williams, a heavy
smoker best known for his tune, "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette," died
after a year-long battle with cancer, his daughter said. . . . her father,
who was diagnosed a year ago as having cancer, smoked two packs of
cigarettes a day, dropping to about a pack a day before he died. "He tried
to quit, but he couldn't," she said.
CR
Stan Milam
> <snip of Ken's thoughtful comments>
>
> My thanks to Wade as well for that topical tidbit.
>
> Just to expound a little more on Tin Pan Alley's demise. From the
> songwriters hall of fame website: "In the beginning of the 1950s, radio play
> and disc jockeys became more prominent, and records were being produced for
> sale to the public-mostly targeted toward teenagers--rather than sheet music
> created for adults who bought music for their home. Publishers were no
> longer in charge of the promotion of a song, and from 1953 to the present,
> rock and roll dominated the charts."
>
> Pop culture focused more on the performer, e.g. Elvis Presley, than the
> song. Then the Brill Building songwriters in NYC had a short run churning
> out tunes for these teen idol performers until the early 1960's when the
> singer/songwriter became popular. Some of the Brill Building writers were
> among those singer/songwriters, e.g. Carole King.
>
> Check out the songwriter's hall of fame for more:
>
> http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/inductees_by_era.asp
>
> All the best,
>
> Steve
Carol King was one. I remember that Neil Diamond was a writer from the
Tin Pan Alley days and evolved into the singer-songwriter. I read once
that he wrote "Sweet Caroline" in the hotel room the night before it was
recorded. His comment was that some come to you easier than others.
Later, in an interview, he told how in those days you recorded three
songs per session. The night before the session he only had two songs
so he got busy. The rest is history.
--
Regards,
Stan Milam
=============================================================
Charter Member of The Society for Mediocre Guitar Playing on
Expensive Instruments, Ltd.
=============================================================
Ken Cashion
wrote:
Stan, the rest maybe history but I don't think Neil Diamond
goes back that far in it. The Alley was geographically identified and
demonstrated to be in business in 1882 ("After The Ball") and it
produced until the late 1920s when the song manufacturing industry
moved west.
In an attempt to capitalize on a noble history, there has been
an effort to keep the Alley alive a lot longer than it existed...not
unlike that done with the American cowboy and cattle drives.
I read the other day where some guy wanted to use the date of
Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" as the day Tin Pan Alley died.
This is funny for several reasons...besides the 30-year error, it
demonstrates that the Alley was gone but not all the old Alleymen.
These guys had capitalized (in music) every cultural change
and mood the world could offer up. One of these old guys saw the
future, so he wrote some good lyrics to a good song. This old
lyricist, who had penned "Blue Danube Waltz," "Liebestraum," and
"Sioux City Sue," wrote the lyrics to "Rock Around The Clock." This
was Max Freedman (Gentile spelling). He was 63.
An old Alleyman ushered in the young people's music.
Ken
Dave Morefield
"Neil O'C" <neil.o...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:1105547810.6...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
I knew that one only as a radio commercial, sung by a C&W, male voice (no
beavers -- they must have been busy over in The Land of Sky Blue Waters).
Now I'm singing it, too, including the last two lines, as follows:
"With McCulloch you're the master, 'cause you keep on cuttin' faster . . .
You're in luck when you got a McCulloch chainsaw."
Yours truly,
Dave Morefield
Ken Cashion
wrote:
>Carlos wrote:
>
>>You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with
>>Pepsodent! (Green Cement!)
>>
>
>
>Here's one my fiendish little friends and I used to sing:
>
>Comet - it makes your TEETH TURN GREEN!
>Comet - it tastes like GASOLINE!
>Comet - it'll make you VOMIT!
>So get some Comet and vomit today!
>
>
>
>Wade Hampton Miller
>Chugiak, Alaska
My older brother's name is Jay and at the time I was in the
third grade, he was a chubby and very aware of it.
If things got too peaceful around the house, I would check out
the room for obstacles, if the nearest screen door was latched, etc.,
and if OK, I would sing...
"Cream of Wheat is so good to eat,
We eat it every day.
"Cream of Wheat is so good to eat,
It makes you fat like Jay."
The last line would be delivered as I raced across the clear
floor and out the unlatched screen door.
Ken
Ken Cashion
<chrisro...@scripto99.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Ken Cashion12/1/05 5:51 PM
>
>> And there was the Phil Harris song when he had his very good
>> Sweet Band..."Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that cigarette; Puff Puff Puff, til
>> you smoke yourself to death. Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate that
>> you hate to make him wait, but you just gotta have another cigarette."
>> Phil Harris died of lung cancer. There is no written account
>> of his conversation at the gate.
>
>Written by Merle Travis for Tex Williams; the release not only saved Tex
>Williams' waning career, but also became Capitol Records' first
>million-seller.
I didn't recall who wrote it but it sorta' makes Travis a
cigarette "plugger."
I remember Tex Williams doing it and if I had thought about
it, I would have assumed his version was before Phil Harris's.
> These two are the
>most commonly heard versions, although Phil Harris also had a hit with the
>song. (My mother had the Harris version on a 78)
Harris had hits with "The Thing," "Preacher & The Bear," and
"That's What I Like About The South," and several other popular
novelty songs. I have a CD of Phil Harris's band and singing when he
was at the Ambassador Hotel, Cocanut Grove in L.A. Good, smooth dance
band.
>Actually I sang this one at the local acoustic music club just before Xmas.
>Done as a western swing band style number with a guitar, fiddle and dobro -
>it went down great.
I bet it did! And didn't Tommy Duncan do this song with
Wills? I don't remember for sure. I could look it up.
>The previous week we'd had one of our number try to ban the smokers from the
>session and the said lady was unaware that both the owner and his wife
>smoke. They made some facetious comments about it as we left...
>
>The day I performed it there was also an Govt. announcement that a total
>smoking ban in pubs which also sell food (kind of a cop-out) will come into
>play in 3 years time. It was a bit topical all-round in fact and so it got
>a good laugh.
Good for you! Isn't it interesting how old topical songs can
become current again? I am ready for a lot of them to cycle back
around. My "song book" might become popular again.
>Tonight in fact we have a local western swing band called The Deep Ellum
>Playboys - guitar, piano, fiddle and woodwind/sax playing a concert. I've
>no idea how good they are yet, but the guitarist went to Texas to research
>the music some time back and the fiddle player is very good. Should be
>interesting.
>
>From the New York Times, Oct. 13, 1985
>Country-western songwriter and entertainer Sollie "Tex" Williams, a heavy
>smoker best known for his tune, "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette," died
>after a year-long battle with cancer, his daughter said. . . . her father,
>who was diagnosed a year ago as having cancer, smoked two packs of
>cigarettes a day, dropping to about a pack a day before he died. "He tried
>to quit, but he couldn't," she said.
>
>CR
He did.
Finally.
Ken
Misifus
> Giving away cigarettes to servicemen sorta' encouraged it,
> too.
>
Even as recently as when I was in the service (1960's), C-rations
included a little box with, IIRC, four cigarettes in it.
Carlos Alden
wrote:
> Good post Carlos,
>
> In the UK there was a growing work-related musical movement from the mid
> 19th century onwards. Musicians and singers were attached to ensembles tied
> to their mills, factories, foundries and collieries etc. and as they were
> also highly competitive in a friendly rivalry way - the standard was very
> high.
The COPPER FAMILY! Yes!
Carlos
Ken Cashion
<rsei...@cox-internet.com> wrote:
>Ken Cashion wrote:
>
>
>> Giving away cigarettes to servicemen sorta' encouraged it,
>> too.
>>
>
>
>Even as recently as when I was in the service (1960's), C-rations
>included a little box with, IIRC, four cigarettes in it.
>
> -Raf
I have a war-time radio announcement where Chesterfield
advertises at the end of each of their radio shows how many thousand
cigarettes they handed out in the hospitals where out brave young men
are recovering from their wounds.
Figure that one out!
It was a different time...Context...time and place. Always
remember Context!
It is sorta' hard sometimes, ain't it? :o)
Ken
Geezer
"Misifus" <rsei...@cox-internet.com> wrote in message
news:10ub2ir...@corp.supernews.com...
> Ken Cashion wrote:
>
>
>> Giving away cigarettes to servicemen sorta' encouraged it,
>> too.
>>
>
>
> Even as recently as when I was in the service (1960's), C-rations included
> a little box with, IIRC, four cigarettes in it.
>
> -Raf
Back in the 60's I had responsibility for the DC (Disaster Control) Kits on
the base at Naval Station, Newport, RI. Among other medical paraphernalia,
each contained a carton of cigarettes and a gallon of grain alcohol.
I could tell that the cigarettes and alcohol needed replacing whenever I saw
any orange juice containers outside the Quonset hut...
Geezer
Peter Huggins
<<< And there was the Phil Harris song when he had his very good
Sweet Band..."Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that cigarette; Puff Puff Puff, til
you smoke yourself to death. Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate that you
hate to make him wait, but you just gotta have another cigarette." >>>
The biggest hit for this song was by Tex Williams. And the author was,
again, Merle Travis.
I don`t think I ever heard Phil Harris` version. When I think of him I
recall "The Thing" and "That`s what I like about the South" and those
great Jack Benny radio show routines which usually included making Phil
and all his band members out to look like a bunch of drunken miscreants,
particularly the left-handed guitarist Frank Lemley. In the radio days
before TV came in everybody had a Sponsor, that was who paid for the
radio time and everybody did jingles. "Pepticon, sure is good, you can
get it in your neighborhood.." by B.B. King when he was on WDIA....
This carried thru to the TV era. Remember the "Les Paul and Mary Ford at
Home" TV shows for Listerine? They were five minutes long, with two
commercials each. Songs were shorter then, or shortened to fit.
(Phil and Bing Crosby were the first importers to the US of Herradurra
Tequila. I still have an old bottle with the label description "Imported
by the Bing Crosby - Phil Harris export company. " Bing even wrote a
letter to Rolling Stone magazine, which they printed, extolling the
virtues of 100% Blue Agave. I guess he needed something to mix with all
that orange juice <G>. The last time Phil was listed in the Local 47
directory, it stated "Whereabouts Unknown".)
Grins, Peter
http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/THISISTHE
http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/unfinished3
http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/KAYDELUXEELTROVADOR
Alan Tignanelli
> This was on the Boston Globe's website. I thought it raises some interesting
> points...
>
> whm
>
>
> The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead
If the jingle is truly dead, there is only one question to ask.
Where will we find the next Barry Manilow?
Alan
Rick Ruskin
days.
Rick Ruskin
Lion Dog Music - Seattle WA
http://liondogmusic.com
AG
"Ken Cashion" <kcas...@datasync.com> wrote in message
news:10pau0h1jg54bpkmj...@4ax.com...
My son and I were talking about this the other night. We were watching a
drug commercial with the sound muted with lots of peaceful pictures and were
both wondering what the heck the drug was for. I don't even remember which
one it was not. Maybe they need a good jingle. Of course I wouldn't hear
it cause I'd have it muted.
AG
Karl Johnson
Ken Cashion wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:51:31 GMT, Stan Milam <stm...@swbell.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Carol King was one. I remember that Neil Diamond was a writer from
the
> >Tin Pan Alley days and evolved into the singer-songwriter. I read
once
> >that he wrote "Sweet Caroline" in the hotel room the night before it
was
> >recorded. His comment was that some come to you easier than others.
> >Later, in an interview, he told how in those days you recorded three
> >songs per session. The night before the session he only had two
songs
> >so he got busy. The rest is history.
>
> Stan, the rest maybe history but I don't think Neil Diamond
> goes back that far in it. The Alley was geographically identified
and
> demonstrated to be in business in 1882 ("After The Ball") and it
> produced until the late 1920s when the song manufacturing industry
> moved west.
Interestingly, I am at this moment listening to Abbott and Costello on
www.radiolovers.com. The show I'm listening to is called "Visit to Tin
Pan Alley" and aired 10/15/42.
Karl
John Sorell
news:34lltvF...@individual.net:
As if anybody is looking....
John
Steve Comeau
Ken's right. Neil is too young to have been part of Tin Pan Alley. Rather,
he sort of ran with the Brill Building crowd. His songwriting office was
more or less next door to the Brill Building.
Steve
Steve Comeau
"Al Evans" <a...@tbtm.org> wrote in message
news:120120050907175797%a...@tbtm.org...
> In article <20050112020601...@mb-m11.aol.com>, Wade Hampton
> Miller <hoj...@aol.comHowdy> wrote:
>
> > This was on the Boston Globe's website. I thought it raises some
interesting
> > points...
> >
> > whm
> >
> >
>
> That was an interesting article (especially for someone who doesn't
> listen to radio or watch TV any more:-)
>
> I found out the other day from a post on a mailing list that 2004 was
> the fiftieth anniversary of the Roto-Rooter jingle. Here it is, in all
> its pristine glory, in several versions:
>
> <http://www.rotorooter.com/company/jingle_1.php>
>
>
> --Al Evans--
Which reminds me of the Cheech & Chong take-off on that jingle:
Spoken: Tired of the steady drip, drip, drip of gonorrhea? Call Peter
Rooter!
Sung: Call Peter Rooter, that's the name and we'll flush your troubles down
the drain. Rod & peter, rod & peter, rod & peter...
Well, that's how I recall it anyhow.
All the best,
Steve
Ken Cashion
wrote:
Karl, I don't think I would rely on Abbott and Costello for
historical accuracy. Remember these guys met the Wolfman,
Frankenstein, and the Mummy. :o)
I have one of their radio shows from the same period and they
had a very common line, as did many of the old radio guys. I still
use it sometimes when I leave my wife for a while..."Bye-bye and buy
bonds."
I like to see what their idea of the future was going to be.
On one Abbott and Costello radio show, Lou was dreaming about the
future of 1957 when his war bonds would mature and all the money he
would have. He would want to have an airplane like everyone else.
A song of the future (from 1942 )is a Sammy Kay song, "I'll
Buy That Dream" and it has the lines "A honeymoon in Cairo, with a
brand new autogyro, a rocket home around the moon. We'll settle down
in Dallas in a little plastic palace, it's not as crazy as it seems."
(Yes, it is.) :o)
Ken
Ken Cashion
I am curious. What was the address of the Brill Building?
Tin Pan Alley was West 28th between Broadway and 6th Avenue.
Ken
>
Dick Thaxter
Broadway.
http://www.history-of-rock.com/brill_building.htm
Dick Thaxter
amaril...@yahoo.com
jingle? And I think I remember a Coke (or was it Pepsi?) commercial
where a girl goes around passing out free soda to folks on the street
as she sings.
I think the article almost hits on something when it notes that record
labels are pushing their product: it's a new found cash cow that works
with the now affluent boomers. The 'good memories' thing works because
music was especially precious to the boomers. ("Follow the money...")
Perhaps the next step will be the return of the jingle as web-indies
compete for notoriety. The film guys are often searching for unique
music, too. (Lord, save us from from Idols)
peace and joy,
jbj
Peter Huggins
<<< Phil and all his band members out to look like a bunch of drunken
miscreants, particularly the left-handed guitarist Frank Lemley. >>>
That should be Remley.
Ken Cashion
Huggins) wrote:
>I wrote:
>
>
><<< Phil and all his band members out to look like a bunch of drunken
>miscreants, particularly the left-handed guitarist Frank Lemley. >>>
>
>That should be Remley.
>
>
>
>
>Grins, Peter
Very good, Peter. "Lemley" didn't register on me -- "Remley"
does. :o)
But then...we know that you know your bands!
Ken
Peter Huggins
does. :o)
But then...we know that
you know your bands!
Ken >>>
I`d like to find out more about him. Saw a Benny TV show once where he
played guitar in a skit, that`s where I found out he was a Lefty. But
he is not in any Gibson catalogs , or any other sourcebooks that I have
found. I have talked to old timers like R.C. Allen and Del Casher, who
knew about him but couldn`t tell me much. And on the Phil Harris / Aice
Faye radio shows, the part of Remley was played by somebody else!
Apparently Some of Benny`s materials were recently donated to a
university, including many letters back and forth between Benny and
Remley, which were noted for their hilarity and obscenity. I saw the
article in a newspaper around a year ago, but don`t recall which
university... I`d sure like to read them letters. . .
Dave Morefield
"Peter Huggins" <guitar...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:9614-41E...@storefull-3314.bay.webtv.net...
<<< Very good, Peter. "Lemley" didn't register on me -- "Remley"
does. :o)
But then...we know that
you know your bands!
Ken >>>
I`d like to find out more about him. Saw a Benny TV show once where he
played guitar in a skit, that`s where I found out he was a Lefty. But
he is not in any Gibson catalogs , or any other sourcebooks that I have
found. I have talked to old timers like R.C. Allen and Del Casher, who
knew about him but couldn`t tell me much. And on the Phil Harris / Aice
Faye radio shows, the part of Remley was played by somebody else!
Apparently Some of Benny`s materials were recently donated to a
university, including many letters back and forth between Benny and
Remley, which were noted for their hilarity and obscenity. I saw the
article in a newspaper around a year ago, but don`t recall which
university... I`d sure like to read them letters. . .
Grins, Peter
[snip]
Try this URL. http://www.bpl.org/research/special/collections.htm
Entries are in alphabetical order. Scroll down to "Benny, Jack".
Yours truly,
Dave Morefield
