Jingles of the Advertising Past and The Descent of Popular Culture
From the apex to the nadir, rapidly approaching bottom.
THE HIGH ART OF THE JINGLE
If it’s not a high art, it sure ain’t low. I’m a connoisseur of the jingle. Like this one:
TUC! TUC!
TUC! TUC!
TUC snack crackers
Have a new crispy lightness
That snaps like a whisper yet
Bursts into flavor
On your tongue!
With cheeses,
TUC pleases.
Because the smooth, golden crackers
Have a new crispy lightness
That snaps like a whisper yet
Bursts into flavor
On your tongue!
Take TUC! TUC!
Take TUC! TUC!Take TUC! TUC!
[TUC Biscuits are still sold. I believe, after having searched, that the composition as well as the sound recording are now in the Public Domain.]
The TUC Biscuit jingle makes me want to run out to the store to buy a case. [Too bad. Not sold in the US.]
The TUC Biscuits jingle was written, arranged and recorded in London around 1966. The Mike Sammes Singers delivering the vocal pay-off. Mike Sammes sang the bass part in Olivia Newton-John’s 1973 country-style hit, Let Me Be There. You can hear his voice at the bottom of the frequency stack in this track, but clearly accentuated in the mix: the producer was savvy enough to know that the resonant masculine bass happily contrasted with the singer’s high, sweet voice, setting the song apart from its competition on the radio, such as The Starlight Vocal Band or Orleans.
TUC Biscuits is one of the finest jingles I’ve ever heard, because it
makes sense of a nonsense brand name,
repeats the brand name TEN times in 30 seconds,
fits perfectly into the standard 30 second timings for broadcast radio,
concisely describes the benefits the product delivers to the customer,
employs vivid, grammatical language, even using the contrasting “yet” to denote the surprise the customer will discover in the product,
conjurs up the touch and sound of the “snap” and taste upon the tongue, and,
the voices are tops. Beautifully arranged to be harmonious with superb diction. The sparse instrumentation of organ, bass and drums – fewer instruments means the session is cheaper -- gives rhythmic movement and support to the voices without getting in the way of the message.
TUC Biscuits is the acme of Jingles. I wonder who its writers were.
Current advertising, instead, selects existing celebrity tracks or background music to be synchronized (sync’d) to the video content; jingles are out. That’s a pity. I’m still singing the Chock Full O’Nuts song nearly six decades after I heard it on WCBS 880 AM news radio (just bought out by ESPN to transition over to all sports). I’d still buy it, when I can find it in a store, just because of that jingle, and I’ll sing it to myself while I do.
Whereas the TUC Biscuit jingle is packed with an explosion of meaning, the Chock Full O’Nuts jingle is still very sophisticated. In 20 seconds, the listener hears the brand name several times in rapid succession, associated with coffee, wealth and family. The tune, lovingly sung by a young matronly sounding Page Morton Black (whose hubby owned the company) is entertaining and memorable.
Jingles are to advertising what plating is to food. Whatever it is, it’s more attractive done well. Advertising today usually does not extol the benefits of the product as a means to justify the expense. Rather, advertisers seem to think it is wise to sell a “feeling.” Quality is never discussed. That is, the emphasis is only on what the purchaser “should” feel like – usually ecstatic, orgiastic response – when the product is finally possessed or consumed. I have almost never, in the past 30 years, heard, much less seen an ad that has induced me to buy it. Rather, they convince me not to.
Have you seen the ads featuring someone actually sitting on the pot and wiping themselves? (I will spare you the video.) I have! YECCH! I found myself immediately reaching for the remote. Horrendous! I guess people react to this and buy. Do they? Do you?
When the TUC Biscuits and Chock Full O’Nuts jingles were de rigeur for advertising, sophistication, intelligence, art, literacy and even the euphemism of sanitary cleanliness kept the conversation at a level of quality today’s mainstream usually fails to achieve. That is a pity.
A Modern Jingle for You
With this in mind, my cousin, Wynt Woody, has created jingles in that fine, olden style for products that don’t exist – but could possibly, especially in the light of advertising today. Consider it a serious form of satire, which, when done well, is always serious, but in a funny way.
Here’s one you might enjoy — for a salve to be used on roosters, featuring that famous cabaret artiste, Noel (the) Coward. Apologies to the ghost of Mr. Coward, whose everything I adore, but I simply had no control over the casting.
Now, it’s not profane – you know how I disdain profanity, especially when used in an essay of some seriousness, which this essay is not quite -- but the jingle is a little salacious, so if you’re under the age of 18, you shouldn’t listen to it, unless you get Mama’s permission. Or you can just go ahead and play it.