Barry Manilow has had songs stuck in everybody’s head for much longer than people realize. Before he started churning out hit records like “Mandy” and “Copacabana (At the Copa),” Manilow had a brief stint writing commercial jingles. “I learned the most about music working in the jingle industry,” Manilow revealed while accepting the Clio Award for his early work in 2009. “It was the best music college I could ever imagine.”
In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Manilow wrote catchy tunes for several companies, a couple of which are still in use today. Remember the old Band-Aid theme? You know…I am stuck on Band-Aid brand, cuz Band-Aid’s stuck on me”? Who honestly hasn’t hummed that to themselves at one point or another (whether they enjoyed it or not)? If it somehow managed to elude you up until now, here’s the little ditty we’re talking about:
You’ve Probably Been Singing Barry Manilow Songs Without Realizing It
On top of that, Manilow penned songs for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and McDonald’s—just to name a few. Oh, and how could we forget the “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” jingle you’ve heard a million times? Yup, you can thank Manilow for that one, too. And if you can believe it, he only got paid $500 for the job:
But despite collaborating with major brands, Manilow admitted there were some low points in his jingle-writing career. As he once explained to Ellen DeGeneres, he also wrote songs for Bowlene toilet bowl cleaner and Stridex pimple cream. “Then they asked me to write a douche commercial, but I said no,” the singer joked. “Anyway, nothing rhymes with douche.”
Watch Manilow perform a medley of his old jingles with Rosie O’Donnell below.
The post Barry Manilow Is Behind Two Iconic Commercial Jingles You Definitely Know appeared first on VICE.
