Thunderbird Wine

[Li...@biz-direct.net]

Does anyone here remember the jingle they used to play back in the
possibly 60's on the radio to promote it, if so, how did it go?

[Dana H. Myers K6JQ]

Martin Field wrote:
>
> <Li...@Biz-Direct.Net> wrote in message
> news:ah59csc1m755phb8t...@4ax.com...

> > Does anyone here remember the jingle they used to play back in the
> > possibly 60's on the radio to promote it, if so, how did it go?
>

> Don't know much about Thunderbird - we don't see it here in Australia. But
> in the late '60s I worked as a roadie with a soul band in London - The Mike
> Cotton Sound. Singer was a black American - Lucas McPherson - from
> Cleveland, Ohio. Lucas told us about Thunderbird and a little ditty that he
> said they used to recite "on the block" back in Cleveland. It went:
>
> "What's the word? Thunderbird.
> What's the price? Forty, twice.
> Who drink de mos'? Coloured folk."
>
> Hardly politically correct these days but that's, to the best of my
> recollection, how he told it.

One of the shining high points of the 1974 ZZ Top album 'Fandango' is
the opening cut 'Thunderbird'. Not the same as the ditty you describe,
it does share the phrase 'What's the word? Thunderbird', which is attributed
in lore to an exchange between one of the Gallo brothers and a, um, happy
customer he once met (story is, Gallo shouted out 'What's the word?' and the
happy customer replied 'Thunderbird!').

Anyway, ZZ Top's composition and vital, live performance of this track are
outstanding.

--
Dana K6JQ DoD #j
Da...@Source.Net

[Joe]

Since we're on this topic......

There is a band from Detroit called the Gories and they sing a song about
'Thunderbird" wine........

"Thunderbird ESQ.........I love it more than I love you"

......something like that.

[Martin Field]

<Li...@Biz-Direct.Net> wrote in message
news:ah59csc1m755phb8t...@4ax.com...
> Does anyone here remember the jingle they used to play back in the
> possibly 60's on the radio to promote it, if so, how did it go?

Don't know much about Thunderbird - we don't see it here in Australia. But
in the late '60s I worked as a roadie with a soul band in London - The Mike
Cotton Sound. Singer was a black American - Lucas McPherson - from
Cleveland, Ohio. Lucas told us about Thunderbird and a little ditty that he
said they used to recite "on the block" back in Cleveland. It went:

"What's the word? Thunderbird.
What's the price? Forty, twice.
Who drink de mos'? Coloured folk."

Hardly politically correct these days but that's, to the best of my
recollection, how he told it.

We later, at a USAF base north of London, were given some Thunderbird and a
few smokes by some air force guys. I remember (hazily) that it was a sweet
fortified white (25% alcohol?) innocuous to the taste but powerful to the
brain. I recall we pulled up at the Blue Boar motorway cafe after what
seemed like an endless drive. We parked in the carpark in the group's van
and a policeman opened the passenger door - Lucas who was in another world
at the time fell out - comatose. I explained in my deliberately atrocious
Aussie accent that we had been on the road for a few days and were extremely
"tired".

I've never tried Thunderbird since but I've never forgotten it.
Martin

[wms]

What's the word?"
"Thunderbird."

"How's it sold?"
"Good and cold."
"What's the jive?"
"Bird's alive!"
"What's the price?"
"Thirty twice."

from: "Blood & Wine, The unauthorized story of the Gallo Wine Empire" by
Ellen Hawkes:
http://www.allaboutwine.com/winebooks/bloodandwine.html

[wms]

Thunderbird/African-Americans:

"...on May 1, 1957, it was test-marketed
and distributed in all the key black stores in Los Angeles, Houston,
Shreveport, and New York City. According to Fenderson's
account, he and his staff 'arranged for street-sampling and
Thunderbird parties in colored bars wherever we could.'
Gallo salesmen recalled that 'street-sampling' was perfected for
Thunderbird in the ghetto. Bottles of Thunderbird were left on
the backseats of salesmen's cars or were handed out in the
neighborhood - the idea was to give away free samples and
saturate the market. Empty bottles of Thunderbird were thrown
in the gutters of skid row streets to increase product awareness..."
- Blood & Wine, The unauthorized story of the Gallo Wine Empire

"Martin Field" <marti...@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:Olex4.41993$3b6.1...@ozemail.com.au...

>
> <Li...@Biz-Direct.Net> wrote in message
> news:ah59csc1m755phb8t...@4ax.com...
> > Does anyone here remember the jingle they used to play back in the
> > possibly 60's on the radio to promote it, if so, how did it go?
>

> Don't know much about Thunderbird - we don't see it here in Australia. But
> in the late '60s I worked as a roadie with a soul band in London - The
Mike
> Cotton Sound. Singer was a black American - Lucas McPherson - from
> Cleveland, Ohio. Lucas told us about Thunderbird and a little ditty that
he
> said they used to recite "on the block" back in Cleveland. It went:
>

> "What's the word? Thunderbird.

[dsmit...@gmail.com]

I song in a group called the Enfatuations on the westside of Chicago when I was in high school. We were siging on the corner one evening when this guy came up to us and asked us to sing this song. He fed us the words "Whats the word dup dup Thunderbird whats the word dup dup Thunderbird Whats the price dup dup 30 twice whats the price dup dup 30 twice and then we repeated it. He worked in a bar as a custodian and asked us to come in to sing this jingle while he played the piano. The bar owner threw us out. Although we were in high school we were already drinking Thunderbird. Two month's later we heard the jingle on radio. the guy that put that jingle together name was Silvio and we were the first to sing that jingle. Wine heads singing on the corner.