Few things have the power of a good, catchy, easy to sing advertising jingle. These little tunes stick in your head, and make you think of that company, product, or service each and every time you find yourself singing the little song that is connected to it. State Farm may very well have the most memorable jingle of all the insurance companies that exist. Their jingle is about to get a lot more popular now that the band Weezer is covering it.
State Farm is an insurance company that sells life insurance, health insurance, auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and more. They have a tendency to think outside of the box when it comes to advertising. You may remember their series of commercial that appeared around Christmas time last year that involved watching State Farm set things on fire.
The purpose of this series of ads was to make it perfectly clear how dangerous it can be to have a dry Christmas tree in your home, laden with Christmas lights that were purchased years ago, attached to an overburdened outlet by a faulty extension cord. Other ads by the company involve lighthearted situations where something goes wrong, until one of the characters sings the easily recognizable State Farm jingle. “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” Suddenly, a State Farm insurance agent appears, and makes everything all better. These ads are amusing, and the State Farm jingle quickly becomes something like a magic lamp, with characters wishing for all kinds of “improvements”.
The State Farm jingle was originally written by American songwriter Barry Manilow, in 1971. He wrote more than just a jingle, however, he wrote an entire song for the State Farm Insurance company. Incidentally, Barry Manilow also wrote the jingle for Band-Aids. “I am stuck on Band-Aid, and a Band-Aid’s stuck on me”.
You might recognize the band Weezer from their songs “Beverly Hills”, “Island in the Sun”, and “Undone (the sweater song)”. Last year, Weezer was preparing to start their “Memories” tour. The band was approached by the State Farm Insurance company, who asked the band to record a version of the State Farm jingle for them. Weezer wanted to know if it was simply a jingle, or if it was part of a whole song. Had the whole song ever been recorded before? State Farm dug around, and figured out that the State Farm jingle was, in fact, an entire song, written by none other than Barry Manilow. Weezer decided that the song was so good, that they wanted to record the whole thing.
There is a YouTube video that shows footage of the band performing “Like a Good Neighbor” in the studio. The song is about three minutes long, and was recorded by Weezer in December of 2010. It seems to be getting mixed reviews, which is basically what happens with most videos on YouTube. Weezer is the only band to record the entire song that the State Farm jingle came from.
Image by Daniel Hartwig on Flickr