Motorcycle Commercial Jingles

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

For some reason I started thinking about the motorcycle commercials that were aired when I was a kid. I wish there were more (and better) bike ads being shown on teevee today.

Yamaha
Get aboard the Silver Bird,
It’s a magical machine.
Satisfy your Walter Mitty mind,
tryin’ out a dream.
Your sign is Capricorn and
every corner of your mind
says you’ll remain my friend,
a friend for all my time.
Yamaha, won’t you fly me away,
Yamaha, take me into the day,
Yamaha, come and give me a ride
and let us go see
what’s on the other side.
Yamaha, won’t you fly me away.
Yamaha, today is the day.
(Okay, I didn’t remember it all. Lines 3-8 eluded me. Found them on google though.)

Suzuki
Forget your troubles
Come on, Suzuki!
(That’s all I remember of that one.)

Kawasaki
Kawasaki lets the good times roll
Kawasaki lets the good times roll
(And that’s all I remember of that one.)

Honda
Get yourself a Honda
Built like a watch that was meant to last a hundred years
Get yourself a Honda
(Once again, my memory fails me.)

2

Hey I actually remember that Kawa one as well.

I have to say motorbike commercials on radio/TV are rare here, so I’m at a loss for the others.

And if I’m Aquarius, can I still buy a Yamaha? :slight_smile:

3

[Buzz Lightyear] You’re a strange, sad little man… [/Buzz Lightyear]

:slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Zette

4

Johnny, When I saw the thread name, the first thing to come to mind was the Yamaha song, and the Kawalski jingle was right behind it.

I miss my bike… I can still hear that unique sound the 2-cycle Kaws had. Rhing-ing-ing-ing-ing-ing…! No other bike sounded quite like it.

5

My 2-stroke Yamaha Enduros sounded like that. :wink:

Hey, at least I don’t drive a Harley!

:stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue:

Yamaha, won’t you fly me away…

6

You meet the nicest people on a Honda bike.
It’s the world’s biggest seller and I know you’ll like
Two hundred miles a gallon something-something-yadaya
something-something-something-something-yadayadayadaya
(Hey! It’s been 35 years! Gimme a break)
Go, little Honda, go little Honda,
You meet the nicest people on a Honda.

7

Anyone remember the rest of the Suzuki, Honda and Kawasaki lyrics?

dropaone: was that part of the snippet I remembered? Or is it a different one?

8

I’m not sure. Mine was from the commercial from 1964 but the Hondells expanded it into a full-length record but I haven’t been able to track down the lyrics.

9

Ah. The ones I remembered were from the '70s.

10

Caught this string while I was actually searching www and You Tube for the old “Today is the day” Yamaha ad. Classic ad…at least in my mind. For some reason I have always remembered that ad from when I was a kid. Can recall a helicopter view of a rider crossing a flat field at high speed. “…Yamaha…today is the day…” Trying to figure out what year that was. Anyone know? The jingle actually came from a Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raiders’ lead singer) song called “Silver Bird”. You can find that on You Tube. Probably was a bigger hit as a Yamaha ad.

11

Yamaha ‘Silver Bird’
Kawasaki Let The Good Times Roll
Forget your troubles, get on Suzuki

12

I thought Honda’s was “Good things happen on a Honda, let them happen to you.” That’s what John Travolta said.

13

Two hundred miles per gallon and a rugged street machine
And Honda prices start about 215 [dollars]. . .

I think the next year Honda raised the price to some amount that didn’t scan at all, dooming that particular jingle to extinction.

14

Ya gotta watch the Harley slurs. Or I’ll blow your eardrums out.

And I’m not strange, sad, little, nor a man.

Just kidding about the eardrums and I never speed. I’m all grown up, after all.

I can’t think of a singing Harley commercial.

15

Weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a motorcycle commercial. Not recently, anyways. Plenty of motorcycle ads, though.

16

This was based on the song Silver Bird by Mark Lindsay, who had been lead singer for Paul Revere and the Raiders.

17

There’s a reason people call two-strokes “ring-dings.” The single-cylinder Kawasakis weren’t really unique-sounding. The Mach III (and its relatives) really did have a distinctive sound.

18

The only company I’ve seen consistently do motorcycle tv ads is BMW, though Honda will occasionally do some (I saw ads for the Grom).

19

Actually, the pressure waves do cause physical discomfort on my left eardrum. Loud pipes are very inconsiderate. But that’s a discussion best left to another thread.

20

HYKS all had motorcycle commercials in the early-'70s. Those were the ones mentioned in the OP. (And commercials don’t have jingles anymore. Ever notice that?) Before I left L.A. a decade ago, I noticed motorcycle commercials. Yamaha ran commercials for the R1 and their cruisers. Honda heralded their goods, and I recall they had low-interest financing and some good deals.

Maybe it’s because I was a kid that the '70s commercials stuck with me. I think it’s been shown that jingles help people remember, and children pick things up that stay with them throughout their lives. The old commercials emphasised fun. The new ones emphasise ‘badassness’. And they don’t have memorable jingles. The new commercials are just so much background noise.