**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 that originated 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" |
| Released | November 1971 |
| Length | 2:15 |
| Label | Metromedia |
| 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" | |||
| Released | November 1971 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 2:20 | |||
| Label | Philips (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 | ||||
| ||||
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, dropping references to Coca-Cola. The song became a hit record in the US and the UK.