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

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**Origins and Creation:**
– Conceived by Bill Backer, Roger Cook, and Billy Davis during a layover in Ireland.
– Original melody from a jingle called True Love and Apple Pie.
– Reworked into a radio jingle for Coca-Cola by Cook, Greenaway, Backer, and Davis.
– Featured a multicultural group of young people on a hill.
– Full-length versions recorded by The Hillside Singers and The New Seekers.

**TV Commercial and Message:**
– Aired for the first time in 1971.
– Cost $250,000 to produce.
– Featured young people from different parts of the world.
– Emphasized unity and love.
– Follow-up commercial called Hilltop Reunion aired during Super Bowl XXIV.

**Significance and Reception:**
– Considered one of the best-loved and most influential ads in TV history.
– Marked the recording industry’s involvement in advertising.
– Noted for associating happiness with the product by marketing analysts.
– Received accolades from various sources.
– Used in a public service announcement addressing soda consumption issues in 2015.

**Commercial Success and Impact:**
– The New Seekers’ version reached #1 in the UK and #7 in the US.
– The New Seekers’ record sold 12 million copies.
The Coca-Cola Company donated $80,000 in payments to UNICEF.
– Became a gold record in the US and sold over a million copies in the UK.
– The Hillside Singers’ version reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

**Cover Versions, Parodies, and Adaptations:**
– Oasis tribute band No Way Sis covered the song in 1996, reaching number 27 on the British charts.
– Rock band Smash Mouth referenced the song in their single ‘Walkin on the Sun’ in 1997.
– Various adaptations and parodies have been created over the years.
– The song has been covered by different artists and featured in various media projects.
– Used in the series finale of ‘Mad Men’ and in the trailer for ‘Resident Evil’.

"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" is a pop song (originally known as "True Love and Apple Pie") by British hit songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, and sung by Susan Shirley.

"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)"
Single by The Hillside Singers
from the album I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
B-side"I Believed It All"
ReleasedNovember 1971
GenreFolk pop, sunshine pop
Length2:15
LabelMetromedia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Al Ham
"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"
ReleasedNovember 1971
GenrePop
Length2:20
LabelPhilips (Germany)
Polydor (UK)
Elektra (USA/Canada)
Songwriter(s)Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, Bill Backer and Billy Davis
Producer(s)David Mackay
The New Seekers singles chronology
"Never Ending Song of Love"
(1971)
"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"
(1971)
"Beg, Steal or Borrow"
(1972)

The lyrics were rewritten by the songwriters—together with US advertising executive Bill Backer and US songwriter Billy Davis—as a jingle for The Coca-Cola Company's advertising agency, McCann Erickson, to become "Buy the World a Coke" in the 1971 "Hilltop" television commercial for Coca-Cola and sung by the Hillside Singers. "Buy the World a Coke" was produced by Billy Davis and portrayed a positive message of hope and love, featuring a multicultural collection of teenagers on top of a hill appearing to sing the song.

The popularity of the jingle led to its being re-recorded in two versions: one by The New Seekers and another by The Hillside Singers (as a full-length song) that dropped references to Coca-Cola. The song became a hit record in the US and the UK.

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