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Earworms: Music in Commercials


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There's a Johnnie Walker commercial in which a father-of-the-bride talks about preparing to play "her favorite song" for the past year, and then plays Debussy's "Clair de lune":

I'll leaving aside calling a long instrumental piece a song, because I lost that battle years ago (and I'm retired from music teaching, so I no longer have a place to fight it). But if he's been practicing for a year, how did he learn a blatant wrong note in the second measure? (The piece gets hard later on, but not at that early point.) It doesn't speak well for how much he cares about it or her.

9 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

But if he's been practicing for a year, how did he learn a blatant wrong note in the second measure? (The piece gets hard later on, but not at that early point.) It doesn't speak well for how much he cares about it or her.

Looking at the dates on the bottle, he's only been practicing a little over five months, but he could have practiced for five years and still screwed up a note when the time came because he was nervous (he takes that big sigh before starting).  I don't think it says anything about how much he cares for his daughter.

  • Love 6
20 hours ago, Bastet said:

I don't think it says anything about how much he cares for his daughter.

In real life, I too of course would be touched by the father's gesture and wouldn't care about any mistakes. But this isn't real life. Every detail in a commercial is planned to the Nth degree; the wrong note must have been approved by everyone down the line. So it was included either because nobody cared (bad) or because they believed in the pernicious equation "mistakes prove sincerity." (Whereas I would say that, if anything, the opposite is true.)

  • Love 1
On 12/6/2019 at 12:40 PM, Rinaldo said:

There's a Johnnie Walker commercial in which a father-of-the-bride talks about preparing to play "her favorite song" for the past year, and then plays Debussy's "Clair de lune":

I'll leaving aside calling a long instrumental piece a song, because I lost that battle years ago (and I'm retired from music teaching, so I no longer have a place to fight it). But if he's been practicing for a year, how did he learn a blatant wrong note in the second measure? (The piece gets hard later on, but not at that early point.) It doesn't speak well for how much he cares about it or her.

Maybe he had one too many slugs of Johnnie Walker before his performance.

  • LOL 5
On 11/16/2019 at 3:35 PM, elle said:

Can anyone identify the song in the Versa commercial?  

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/osWQ/fitbit-versa-2-alexa-and-sleep-score

I also have to laugh at the woman making a reminder to get a dog bed. Yep, that'll keep the dog off your bed. (snerk!)

Maybe her sleep score is high because dogs make great bed warmers? My dog always knew when I had a backache and would curl up in *just* the right spot.

  • Love 6

I was dragged onto a 3-week cruise through the Panama Canal with my mom back in 92. Turned out, it wasn't all that bad. I really had such a good time, I didn't want to leave the ship. It helped that it was Holland-America, which has mostly seniors as passengers, so being the only young-ish person on the ship gave me a lot of latitude to flirt with the crew and staff members. I had a blast.

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16 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

Why would anyone use the song ‘Go Ask Alice’ in a commercial?  Are we supposed to think  that  Celebrity cruises supplies drugs to their patrons? 

It's interesting to me the difference in the Celebrity commercials depending on the market. Celebrity sponsors a cooking show on PBS - Simply Ming with Chef Ming Tsai. The sponsors get a short spot at the beginning or end. Celebrity has a brief appearance of their top food chef, who talks about being inspired by the food around the world for what they serve. TOTALLY different vibe than the commercial on commercial TV.

I've taken the Queen Mary 2 from New York to England 3 times. It was wonderful. Mostly old geezers like us. Very refined and elegant.

Edited by chessiegal
  • Love 1
On 2/3/2020 at 10:03 PM, elle said:

Pepsi can join the table with Carnival and Celebrity cruise lines for using a song with lyrics with a specific meaning.

 "Paint it Black" to promote a soda with a can that is black?  They could not ask either Missy Elliot or H.E.R. for something of their own or something original for the Super Bowl ad?

It's  bad enough that  they're  using Jefferson  Airplane and the  Stones for music in commercials.  Some things ought to be  sacred 😉 But I swear to you,  the first adhole to use Tom Paxton, Ian and Sylvia, or Doc Watson in a commercial, I will hunt the heretic  down and gut them like a deer. There's  heresy, and then there's  HERESY. 

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On 5/6/2020 at 3:54 PM, Colleenna said:

I just saw a Zillow  commercial that  uses Bob Dylan's "Shelter From the Storm. " Heresy,  I tell you,  heresy! There oughta be a law!!

Oh, I like that one- I always hear something new in Dylan's voice/phrasing of this, and I never cared for that song before.

My new insanity producing 'song' is whatever is going on behind the iPhone 11 ad, which features somebody shrieking hysterically 'I want my thing thing'. Although it does kind of remind me of Jack White. ?

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On 5/12/2020 at 11:59 PM, catlover79 said:

I'm guessing that's now off. I'm sorry.

Back on topic, add me to the list of those annoyed by "Nothing is Everything". Thanks a lot, Skyrizi!! 😠

I guess that would also mean "everything is nothing"? Whatever the case may be, I HATE that f'n commercial!

Also, the constant TLC commercial for the (stolen from Bravo) show with the woman screaming "oh my Buddha!" I think its called Pillow Talk.

but Bravo did it better when they had it on as "People's Couch". I have no desire to watch pillow talk with a fool screaming at me.

  • Love 1

I never liked the show "Welcome Back Kotter" or the song. Of course, I watched it, because 1975! Few choices! I'm glad it's a happy memory for some.

Today, though, condolences to John Travolta and his children for the loss of Kelly Preston, his wife of 29 years and mom to their two surviving kids, to breast cancer. So very sad for them.

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I hate the S L O W dirgelike version of "I Will Survive" in the recent Facebook ads. I fail to understand what FB is trying to accomplish with this musical message.

"I Will Survive" is a bracing anthem about finding one's self-esteem and personal triumph when faced with the former lover who expected to find that "chained up little person still in love with you." It is not a song that should sound as if the singer is lying in bed, weak and weeping.

I know I'm old, but no one will ever match Gloria Gaynor's exuberant, emotional, and vocally exquisite rendition of "I Will Survive." The video is, well, interesting, what with the disco roller skater.

 

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2 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I hate the Zillow ads with the woman singing.   I can't even tell what the words are, but I hate it.  

It seems to be a kids nonsense song.  It has two stanzas, the ad uses the second one.  We were having a family debate about whether there were lobsters or monsters living at the bottom of the sea, so I looked up the song.

Everybody has a place to go
Everybody wants a place to be
When birds fly they’re swimming in the sky
While fish are swimming in the sea

Everybody has a place to go
Everybody wants to be somewhere
Lobsters live at the bottom of the sea
While I’m at the bottom of the air

  • LOL 2
8 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

That song is supposed to make me want to use Zillow to buy a house?  

At least it's a song in a commercial that makes sense.  Zillow will help you find a house no matter where you want to live.  Better than using a snippet of a song about drugs or death because you like a tiny phrase in it.

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