A Little Jingle Therapy

I was thinking, while grilling a cheese sandwich the other day, about sick days when I was a kid. Those were special days despite upset stomachs, sniffles, and fevers. They were the days when I legitimately skipped school and stayed home. They were the days, when I lounged on the sofa, a glass of icy 7-Up on the coffee table, and undoubtedly a grilled cheese and Campbell’s tomato or chicken noodle soup for lunch. Comfort food.

On those days, I had Mom all to myself and we bonded watching soap operas on TV. As the World Turns, Days of our Lives, and Dark Shadows delivered us from tiresome scratchy throats and housework. We both had a crush on vampire Barnabas Collins and that will surely be another post some other day. What I really want to write about, now, is what came in between segments of those soaps—the commercials or, more specifically, the commercials with catchy jingles.

In the sixties and seventies, TV ads were clever, entertaining, and I often found myself singing along to some Broadway-worthy tune.

Since we are in the dog days of summer and sometimes feeling wilted and bored, I thought I would help you while away a few minutes with a Jingle Quiz. I’ll offer up a line or two from 15 exceptionally worthy jingles from the day, and see if you can guess what product/brand was being pitched. (Answers at the end of the blog.)

1. Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t! __________
2. My bologna has a first name, it’s __________. My bologna has a second name, it’s _________.
3. __________, the San Francisco treat!
4. I am stuck on __________ brand, cuz__________ stuck on me.
5. Mmm Mmm! Good. Mmm Mmm Good! That’s why __________ are Mmm Mmm, good.
6. It’s the real thing, __________ is. That’s the way it should be, _________. What the world wants to see. Whoaa…yeah. The real thing.
7. There’s a fragrance that’s here today, and they call it, __________.
8. Meow, meow, meow, meow. Meow, meow, meow, meow. Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. __________
9. Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. Special orders don’t upset us. All we ask is that you let us have it your way. __________
10. When it says __________, __________, __________ on the label, label, label, nothing’s better, better, better on your table, table, table.
11. So, kiss a little longer; stay close a little longer. Hold tight a little longer, longer with __________.
12. When you say __________, you’ve said it all!
13. I’m __________ and I’ve come to stay. Bananas have to ripen in a certain way.
14. Plop, plop! Fizz, fizz! Oh, what a relief it is. __________
15. You deserve a break today, so get up and get away to __________.

How did you do? I would say if you got less than 5 right, reconsider competing in a vintage TV-related Trivial Pursuit contest. If you got 5-10 right, treat yourself to a Bud, or a Coke, because you do deserve a break today. And, if you guessed 13 or more correctly, well, perhaps you watched way too much television as a kid.

And by the way, no need to thank me.

“For what?” you ask.

The gift of having a repetitive tune jingle-jangling around in your cranium for at least the rest of today.

Answers: 1) Almond Joy 2) Oscar Mayer 3) Rice-a-Roni 4) Band-Aid 5) Campbell’s Soup 6) Coca-Cola 7) Charlie perfume 8) Meow Mix 9) Burger King 10) Libby’s 11) Big Red gum 12) Budweiser 13) Chiquita bananas 14) Alka-Seltzer 15) McDonald’s