I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)

"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"
Single by The New Seekers
from the album We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
B-side	"Boom Town"
Released	1971
Recorded	1970
Length	2:20
Label	Philips
Writer(s)	Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, Bill Backer and Billy Davis
Producer	David Mackay
The New Seekers singles chronology
"Never Ending Song of Love" (1971) "'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" (1971) "Beg, Steal or Borrow" (1972)

"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" is a popular song which originated as a jingle in the groundbreaking 1971 "Hilltop" television commercial for Coca-Cola. The song, produced by Billy Davis and performed by The New Seekers, portrayed a positive message of hope and love sung by a multicultural collection of teenagers on the top of a hill. It originally included the line "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" and repeated "It's the real thing" as Coca-Cola's marketing theme at the time. It was so popular it was re-recorded by The New Seekers and by The Hillside Singers as a full-length song, dropping references to Coca-Cola, and became a hit record. The version by The New Seekers reached #1 in the U.K. and #7 in the United States. The Hillside Singers' version was released as a successful single the same year; it reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart.

Origins

The idea originally came to an advertising executive named Bill Backer, who was working for McCann-Erickson — the agency responsible for Coca-Cola. Backer, Roger Cook and Billy Davis were delayed at Shannon Airport in Ireland. After a forced layover with many hot tempers, they noticed their fellow travelers the next morning were talking and joking while drinking Coca-Cola. Backer wrote the line "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" on a napkin and shared it with British hit songwriters Cook and Roger Greenaway. The melody was derived from a jingle by Cook and Greenaway originally called "Mom, True Love and Apple Pie".^[1] A version of the song was recorded by Susan Shirley and released in 1971. Cook, Greenaway, Backer, and Billy Davis reworked the song and recorded it as a Coca-Cola radio commercial.

TV commercial

The song first aired on American radio on February 12, 1971, but failed. Although many radio stations refused to play it, Backer persuaded McCann-Erickson to film a commercial using the song.^[1] The TV commercial, entitled "Hilltop", was directed by Haskell Wexler.^[2] The first attempt at shooting was ruined by rain and other location problems. The eventual total cost of the commercial was $250,000—an unheard of price in 1971 for an advertisement.^[1] The finished product, first aired in July 1971, featured a multicultural group of young people lip syncing the song on a hill outside Rome, Italy. The global unity of the singers is emphasized by showing that the bottles of Coke they are holding are labelled in a variety of languages.

Radio stations began to get calls from people who liked it and Billy Davis' friends in radio suggested he record the song, but not as an advertising jingle.^[2] It became so popular that the song was rewritten without brand name references, and expanded to three verses. Davis recruited a group of studio singers to take it on because The New Seekers did not have time to record it. The studio group named themselves The Hillside Singers to identify with the ad, and within two weeks the song was on the national charts. The New Seekers then found time to do the song, however,^[1] and sold 96,000 copies of their record in one day, eventually selling 12 million total. The recording shot lead singer Eve Graham and the other members of The New Seekers to super-stardom.^[3] "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" climbed to UK #1 and US #7 in 1971 and 1972. The Coca-Cola Company waived royalties to the song and instead donated $80,000 in payments to UNICEF.^[1]

In the mid-1970s, another version of the commercial was filmed for the holiday season. This reworking featured the same song, but showed the group at night, with each person holding a lit white candle. In the final zoom-out crane shot, only the candle flames remain visible, forming a triangle reminiscient of a Christmas tree; this impression is cemented by a Coke-bottle logo superimposed at the top of the "tree", and the words "Happy Holidays from your Coca-Cola bottler" below. This version was reused for many years during the holiday season.

In 1990, a follow-up to this commercial, called "Hilltop Reunion", aired during coverage of Super Bowl XXIV. It featured the original singers (now adults) and their children, and culminated in a medley of this song and the then-current "Can't Beat the Real Thing" jingle.

In 2006, the song was used again in a Coca-Cola commercial in the Netherlands. The song is covered by the Dutch singer Berget Lewis. Remix produced by Massive music team: DvM, Roy shen-Zoor And Aux. was present 13, in the Top 40, The Netherlands.^{[clarification needed]}

In 2007, Campaign magazine called it "one of the best-loved and most influential ads in TV history".^[4] It served as a milestone—the first instance of the recording industry's involvement with advertising.^[5] Marketing analysts have noted Coca-Cola's strategy of marrying the idea of happiness and universal love of the product illustrated by the song.^[6][7]

In 2010, Coca-Cola once again used the song in a television commercial featuring the entire line of its sponsored NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers. The commercial included the drivers singing the song while driving in a race. The following year, information on how many dollars it would take "to buy the world a Coke" was given in a commercial featuring the red silhouette of a Coke bottle and the melody of the song.

British band Oasis were sued after their recording "Shakermaker" borrowed its melody and some lyrics directly; they were forced to change their composition.^[8] Oasis tribute band NoWaySis released a cover of "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing", entering the British charts at No.27 in 1996.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" - The Hilltop Story, The Coca-Cola Company (2006). Retrieved on May 4, 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b} The "Hilltop" Ad: The Story of a Commercial, Library of Congress. Retrieved on May 4, 2009.
3. ^ Culley, Maureen (March 22, 2008). "I've Finished Teaching the World to Sing", Daily Mail (London), p. 18.
4. ^ Hamilton, James and Tylee, John (May 18, 2007). "Ten ads that changed advertising", Campaign, p. 20.
5. ^ "All about ... Advertiser-funded music", Campaign, (February 8, 2008), p. 15.
6. ^ Gieryn, Thomas F. (Spring 1987). "Science and Coca-Cola", Science & Technology Studies, 5 (1) p. 12-31.
7. ^ Holbrook, Morris (July 1987). "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, What's Unfair in the Reflections on Advertising?" The Journal of Marketing, 51 (3), p. 95-103.
8. ^ Mundy, Chris (May 2, 1996). "Ruling Asses: Oasis", Rolling Stone, p. 32-35, 68.

External links

• Celebrating Advertising History

Preceded by "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)" by Benny Hill	UK Singles Chart number one single January 8, 1972 (4 weeks)	Succeeded by "Telegram Sam" by T.Rex
Preceded by "Chiisana Koi" by Mari Amachi	Japan Oricon singles chart number one single April 10, 1972	Succeeded by "Yoake no Teishaba" by Shoji Ishibashi
Preceded by "Slaney Valley" by Larry Cunningham	Irish Singles Chart number-one single January 8, 1972 - January 15, 1972	Succeeded by "Men Behind the Wire" by Barleycorn