Best songs written for commercials

Cafe Society
41

Here’s the thread winner, the finest one-minute jingle ever written:

I never appreciated the clever lyrics and incredible polyphony when I was a kid, of course. I hadn’t thought of it in decades, and then I heard it performed live at a small club (I can’t for the life of me remember by whom). The audience went nuts and made them do it over.

I especially love the second half of the second verse.

Snap, what a happy sound!
Snap is the happiest sound I’ve found.
You may clap, rap, tap, slap but
Snap… makes the world go round!

Snap, Crackle, Pop, Rice Krispies!

I say it’s crackle, the crispy sound.
You gotta have crackle or the clock’s not wound.
Geese cackle, feathers tickle,
Belts buckle, beets pickle,
But crackle… makes the world go round!

Snap, Crackle, Pop, Rice Krispies!

I insist that pop’s the sound.
The best is missed unless pop’s around.
You can’t stop hoppin’ when the cereal’s poppin’,
Pop… makes the world go round!

Snap, Crackle, Pop, Rice Krispies!

42

Seconding the Rice Krispies jingle. Three verses, even, one for each personified sound! “You can’t stop hoppin’ when the cereal’s poppin’” - great line all by itself.

I’m quite fond of the instrumental recording the T-Bones made of “No Matter What Shape Your Stomach’s In” that got Top 40 radio airplay, but it’s a much more polished product than the version in the Alka-Seltzer commercial.

43

I love how the original Chiquita Banana commercial looks like and actual 40’s cartoon.

44

Kellogg’s best to you!

45

Stan Freberg, “Great American Soup”:

Sadly, the campaign was a flop. (If only they’d thought to mention the name “Heinz” literally anywhere in the ad…)

46

Now, I’m not saying that this is the best song written for a commercial, but I do think it’s interesting:

Interesting because it was written by Mike D’Abo, who also wrote Handbags And Gladrags, for example.

j