# Songs that have been warped by use in commercials. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629 "2005-03-28T17:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/1 "2005-03-28T17:33:10Z")
A Tommy Hilfiger commercial has CCR’s “Fortunate Son” playing in the background. Beautiful people frolic in Tommy clothes, with accents on the colors of the flag. The lyrics they play are: Some folks are born, made to wave the flag. Yeah, They’re Red White and Blue. They leave out the zinger: When the band plays ‘Hail to the Chief’ They’ll point the cannon at you. So it goes from protest to patriotism. So what I’m looking for are other songs which have had their meanings twisted in the service of moving product. I love to see beautiful spin. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/2 "2005-03-28T18:06:28Z")
Silly one, but when Burger King was doing some special, two something-or-others for the price of one, they used “Double Vision” so even years later everytime I hear that song, I think of BK, which totally sucks. Not that “Double Vision” was a good song to begin with, but . . . ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/3 "2005-03-28T18:10:44Z")
“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz” was used in a commercil, mid 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/4 "2005-03-28T18:12:19Z")
The one that’s getting to me lately is “Shorts!” a advo-filk on “Fame!” I think they’re Old Navy commercials. Everytime I see it, I change the channel or mute the sound quickly, then think about Irene Cara sobbing everytime she sees this horrible thing. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/5 "2005-03-28T18:15:12Z")
> [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](#): > > Silly one, but when Burger King was doing some special, two something-or-others for the price of one, they used “Double Vision” so even years later everytime I hear that song, I think of BK, which totally sucks. Not that “Double Vision” was a good song to begin with, but . . . They also used Priest’s You’ve Got Another Thing Comming, when they were doing a two for one special. I always thought that was pretty dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/6 "2005-03-28T18:22:00Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > The one that’s getting to me lately is “Shorts!” a advo-filk on “Fame!” I think they’re Old Navy commercials. Everytime I see it, I change the channel or mute the sound quickly, then think about Irene Cara sobbing everytime she sees this horrible thing. Agreed, that just bugs the crap out of me to hear that, and I wasn’t even a big fan of the movie, OR the song. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/7 "2005-03-28T18:24:00Z")
Some television commercial used the Beatle’s “It’s getting better”, cutting off just before “they can’t get much worse.” Later on they added a couple of odd notes to the cut-off point, presumably to stop the mind from continuing with the song. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/8 "2005-03-28T18:34:24Z")
“Should I Stay or Should I Go?” by the Clash. Became a hit after its use in a Levi’s commercial about 15 years ago, and then reemerged in another commercial for some kind of vodka or something last year. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/9 "2005-03-28T18:38:42Z")
I think it’s both hilarious and sad that Jefferson Airplane’s “Volunteers” is being used as the theme music for an E-trade commercial. Somehow I suspect that E-trade was not what Gracie Slick had in mind when she sang “Look what’s happening out in the streets/Got a revolution, got to revolution…” ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/10 "2005-03-28T18:44:03Z")
For some reason, the commercial featuring INXS’s **What You Need** gives me the rage. I don’t even know what the commercial is for–probably a car. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/11 "2005-03-28T18:47:05Z")
> [@HeadNinja](#): > > A Tommy Hilfiger commercial has CCR’s “Fortunate Son” playing in the background. Nitpick: Actually, that was a commercial for Wrangler. Unless, of course, there was a Tommy Hilfiger one, too, and I haven’t seen it. But yeah, that commercial annoys me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/12 "2005-03-28T18:59:33Z")
> [@HeadNinja](#): > > A Tommy Hilfiger commercial has CCR’s “Fortunate Son” … I’m pretty sure that was Lee, not Tommy Hilfiger. I made note of the bitter irony of them leaving off the verse about pointint the cannon to TLL. It reminded me of Bush the elder using _Born in the USA_ as a campaign song. I’ve seen a Mercedes commercial with JJ’s _Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz_ within the last year or two. Some cruise line uses Iggy Pop’s _Lust for Life_ which really rubs me the wrong way and a mobile phone company used The Ramones’ _Blitzkrieg Bop_, no doubt causing three of four of them to spin in their graves. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/13 "2005-03-28T19:04:58Z")
Don’t forget that Microsoft used the Stones’ _Start Me Up_ to launch their Windows 95 campaign. Of course they looped the song before it got to the line about making a grown man cry. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/14 "2005-03-28T19:13:15Z")
Don’t know what jeans company played “Fortunate Son”, but the Tommy commercial **HeadNinja** refers to used “American Woman”, which also is probably not in the Big Book O’ Patriotic Songs. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/15 "2005-03-28T19:26:22Z")
> [@peasea](#): > > Don’t know what jeans company played “Fortunate Son”, but the Tommy commercial **HeadNinja** refers to used “American Woman”, which also is probably not in the Big Book O’ Patriotic Songs. Since the Guess Who were Canadians, it may very well be in their Big Book O’ Patriotic Songs. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/16 "2005-03-28T20:20:34Z")
AppleBee’s has an especially annoying commercial where they sing some stupid song to the tune of Chuck Berry’s “No Particular Place to Go”. It goes something like this: “Riding around in my automobile/My family is hungry and needs a meal” That commercial irritates me to no end. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/17 "2005-03-28T20:27:33Z")
My first thread and I totally goof. I did confuse the “American Woman” Hilfiger commercial with the “Fortunate Son” Wrangler commercial. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/18 "2005-03-28T21:10:11Z")
I’m sick and tired of hearing The Who songs constantly whored out in commercials and CSI theme songs. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/19 "2005-03-28T21:15:11Z")
I didn’t need to have Bananarama’s “Venus” ruined by becoming a lady’s shaver theme song. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629/20 "2005-03-28T21:21:49Z")
Nissan using the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin” was pretty upsetting. I even started a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=188584) about it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-been-warped-by-use-in-commercials/296629.md?page=2)