I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
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| "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" | ||
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| Single by The New Seekers | ||
| Released | 1971 | |
| Writer(s) | Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, Bill Backer and Billy Davis | |
| Producer(s) | David Mackay | |
| Chart positions | ||
"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" is a pop song which originated as an advertising jingle, produced by Billy Davis and sung by The New Seekers, for Coca-Cola, and was featured in 1971 as a TV commercial.
The Hillside Singers also had a hit with the song around the same time.
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[edit] Origins
The song began life as a collaboration by UK hit songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway called "True Love and Apple Pie" and recorded by Susan Shirley. It was then rewritten by Cook, Greenaway, Coca-Cola account executive Bill Backer, and Billy Davis and recorded as a Coca-Cola radio commercial, with the lyric "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company." First aired on American radio in February 1971, it was also used as a TV commercial later that year, sparking public demand for its release as a single. Reworked, again by Bill Backer and Billy Davis, to remove the references to the brand name, the single climbed to UK #1 and US #7 in 1971. The Coca-Cola Company waived royalties to the song and instead donated the $ 80,000 ($ 600,000 in 2007 prices) in payments to UNICEF. The song has since been recorded over 75 times.
[edit] TV commercial
The 1971 TV commercial featured young people from around the world singing on a hilltop, and was so popular that the song (without the Coke references) became a hit in its own right. Commercial recordings as a pop-song were issued by The New Seekers and The Hillside Singers.
In the commercial, the lead singer and the people surrounding her were filmed lip synching to the New Seekers radio version of the commercial. None of the actors actually sang in the TV version.
The song's success was particularly notable in the UK where it is one of the 100 best selling singles of all time.
The commercial, as one of the most popular of all time, is credited with helping Coca-Cola regain its status as the preeminent soft drink in North America.
When South Africa planned to use this advert on SABC, they wanted Coca Cola to use an all-white version (there are people of different races in the video, which upset the apartheid government). The application for it was accepted.
[edit] In the media
- The song's melody was later used as the basis of the song "Shakermaker" by the rock group Oasis. They were successfully sued for the unlicensed use by The New Seekers and had to pay out A$500,000. This incident was the inspiration for the Oasis parody/tribute band No Way Sis's cover of the song in an Oasis style. Also, the chorus of the song "She's Electric" follows a similar melody to the song.
- In 2005, Coca-Cola Zero was introduced with an ad campaign featuring "I'd Like to Teach the World to Chill", with rewritten lyrics intended to better match a new generation's sensibilities.
- In 2006 the song was used again in a Coca-Cola commercial in the Netherlands, performed by dutch singer Berget Lewis.
- Instrumental versions of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" were occasionally used in some Coca-Cola (and its variants) television ads.
[edit] Pop culture references
- A 2002 7-Up commercial parodied the famous Coke ad as an attack on its soft drink rival.
- The FOX cartoon "American Dad" referenced it in a video of Stan and Haily.
- Our Dumb Century, a book by The Onion, features a fictitious news report from 1971 in which portayal in the commercial is covered as if it was an actual, spontaneous event. "Critics" cited in the article denounce the singing teen's proposals "unrealistic" arguing that a single bottle of coke cannot be practically shared with the planet Earth's billion-plus inhabitants.
- National Lampoon ran a subscription ad with a photo sequence and captions parodying the Coke ad. The opening lines read, "I'd like to give the world a hug / and tell it jokes and stuff, / then pull its pants down to its knees / and chase it through the rough."
[edit] See also
| Preceded by "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" by Benny Hill |
UK number one single January 4, 1972 |
Succeeded by "Telegram Sam" by T Rex |
