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"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
"Never Ending Song of Love" (1971) "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (1971) "Beg, Steal or Borrow" (1972)

"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.

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.

Origins

The idea originally came to Bill Backer, an advertising executive working for McCann Erickson, the agency responsible for Coca-Cola. Backer, Roger Cook and Billy Davis were delayed at Shannon Airport in Ireland. After a forced layover with many hot tempers, they noticed their fellow travelers the next morning were talking and joking while drinking Coca-Cola. Backer wrote the line "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" on a napkin and shared it with Cook and Roger Greenaway.

The melody was derived from a previous song by Cook and Greenaway, originally called "True Love and Apple Pie," that was recorded in 1971 by Susan Shirley. Cook, Greenaway, Backer and Billy Davis reworked the song into a Coca-Cola radio jingle, which was performed by British pop group The New Seekers and recorded at Trident Studios in London. The radio jingle made its debut in February 1971 before being adapted for the Coca-Cola "Hilltop" television commercial later that year.

The commercial ended with the statement:

On a hilltop in Italy,
We assembled young people
From all over the world...
To bring you this message
From Coca-Cola Bottlers
All over the world.
It's the real thing. Coke.

The song became so popular that its creators revised it, adding three verses and removing product references to create a full-length song appropriate for commercial release. The full-length song was re-recorded by both The Hillside Singers and The New Seekers and both versions became huge hits.

TV commercial

Lyrics

"Buy the World a Coke" contains the line "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" and repeats "It's the real thing", which was Coca-Cola's marketing slogan. The Coca-Cola Company introduced that slogan in October 1969.

Versions as an ad

Several versions of the ad have been made.

• The song first aired on American radio on February 12, 1971, but not all of the Coca-Cola bottlers were impressed. DJs reported that they were receiving requests to hear the commercial. Backer persuaded McCann-Erickson to film a commercial using the song. The TV commercial, titled "Hilltop", was directed by Roberto Malenotti. The ad cost $250,000 ($1.9 million today), then the most expensive commercial in history. The first attempt at shooting was ruined by rain and other location problems. The finished product, first aired in July 1971, featured a multicultural group of young people lip synching the song on a hill in the municipality of Manziana outside Rome, Italy. The first woman seen was Linda Neary, who was working as a governor in Rome and accepted the job two days before shooting began, although she never met most of the other young people in commercial. The global unity of the singers is emphasized by showing that the bottles of Coke they are holding are labelled in a variety of languages.
• A Christmas-themed version of the ad debuted in 1977, referred to as "Candles" as distinguished from the "Hilltop" campaign. Instead of standing still while holding bottles of Coca-Cola, young people now held candles and rocked rhythmically while seated on a hillside. It was set after dark to emphasize the points of light. The pop instrumental backing was replaced with a glockenspiel and sleigh bells. By the end, the camera pulled back to an overhead view of the candles to reveal an overall shape of a lit Christmas tree.
• In 1987, a commercial aired which was based on a similar theme of togetherness. It was filmed at St George's Hall, Liverpool, but featured a different song called "I Am the Future of the World" and sung by Wendy Maguire.
• In 1990, a follow-up to this commercial, called "Hilltop Reunion" and directed by Jeff Lovinger, aired during coverage of Super Bowl XXIV. It featured the original cast members, including Linda Neary (now middle-aged adults), now joined by their children, and culminated in a medley of this song and the current "Can't Beat the Real Thing" jingle.
• G. Love remade the song for the Coca-Cola Zero commercial "Everybody Chill", which aired in 2005.
• In 2006, the song was used again in a Coca-Cola commercial in the Netherlands, performed by Dutch singer Berget Lewis.
• In 2010, Coca-Cola once again used the song in a television commercial featuring the entire line of its sponsored NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers. The commercial included the drivers singing the song while driving in a race.
• In 2011, information on how many dollars it would take "to buy the world a Coke" was given in a commercial featuring the red silhouette of a Coke bottle and the melody of the song.
• In 2012, as part of the Google's Project Re:Brief campaign, the "Hilltop" ad was reimagined for the digital age. Via the web, people were able to "send" a Coke to special vending machines located around the globe. Recipients of the Coke could then record a thank-you message to send back to the sender. Machines were located in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Cape Town (South Africa), Mountain View (California, United States), and New York City (New York, United States).
• In 2015, a public service announcement was made by Center for Science in the Public Interest about the consequences of excessive soda consumption and contained an altered version of the song. The advert featured hospital doctors and dentists and patients struggling with obesity-induced diseases (type 2 diabetes, hypertension and tooth decay). Near the end, it showed Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Mountain Dew in beverage cups named "Obesity", "Diabetes Type Two" and "Tooth Decay" in the respective typefaces being poured away. The campaign was named "Change the Tune".

Significance and reception

In 2007, Campaign magazine called it "one of the best-loved and most influential ads in TV history". It served as a milestone—the first instance of the recording industry's involvement with advertising.

Marketing analysts have noted Coca-Cola's strategy of marrying the idea of happiness and universal love of the product illustrated by the song.

The commercial has continued receiving accolades; in 2000, Channel 4 and The Sunday Times ranked the song 16th in the 100 Greatest TV Ads while in 2005, ITV ranked the advertisement 10th in its list of the greatest advertisements.

Singles

The Hillside Singers

After the TV commercial aired, radio stations began to get calls from people who liked it. Billy Davis' friends in radio suggested he record the song, but not as an advertising jingle. It became so popular that the song was rewritten without brand name references and expanded to three verses. Davis recruited a group of studio singers to take it on because The New Seekers did not have time to record it. The studio group named themselves The Hillside Singers to identify with the ad, and within two weeks the song was on the national charts. The Hillside Singers' version reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, #5 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and #58 on the RPM charts in Canada. Billboard ranked this version as the No. 97 song for 1972.

The New Seekers

The New Seekers later recorded the song and sold 96,000 copies of their record in one day, eventually selling 12 million total. "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" climbed to #1 in the UK, #3 in Canada and #7 in the US in 1971 and 1972. The song became a gold record in the US and has also sold over a million copies in the UK. The Coca-Cola Company waived royalties to the song and instead donated $80,000 in payments to UNICEF. Billboard ranked this version as the No. 93 song for 1972.

Chart performance

New Seekers version

Hillside Singers version

Certifications

Covers and inspiration for other music

• The British rock band Oasis was sued after their recording "Shakermaker" borrowed its melody and some lyrics directly; they were forced to change their composition as a result.
• Oasis tribute band No Way Sis released a cover of the song that entered the British charts at #27 in 1996.
• In 1997, the rock band Smash Mouth inserted a reference to the song in early lines of their first major single "Walkin' on the Sun".
• A version of the song was included in the Kidsongs video of the same name.
• A cover of the song was featured on the VeggieTales album Bob and Larry Sing the 70's.
• In 2016, Lucy Layton (daughter of New Seekers singer and bassist Paul Layton) released a cover of the song. Her official video, posted to YouTube on September 23, depicted the violence faced by Syrian refugees, with the visuals of war being in stark contrast to the song's message of peace and harmony.
• In 2018, China promoted its Belt and Road Initiative with a video of a song called "I'd Like to Build the World a Road" based on the lyrics, melody, and imagery of Coke's "Hilltop" ad and song.

In popular culture

The commercial was used as the final scene (minus the "It's the real thing" statement at the end) in the Mad Men series finale "Person to Person", which was set in November 1970 at an oceanside spiritual retreat in California. It is implied that the show's fictional protagonist, Don Draper, was behind the commercial's creation.

A version of the song was used in the trailer for the Netflix series Resident Evil (adapted from the video game series of the same name).

The song was featured in the film Freddy Got Fingered during a scene in which Tom Green's character wears a deer carcass.

The song was also featured in The Golden Girls episode "Vacation".

See also

• Advertising management
• Brand management
• "First Time" (Robin Beck song), a song that also came to prominence via a Coca-Cola TV commercial
• Share a Coke, a Coca-Cola campaign that ran from 2010 to 2017

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External links

• Coca-Cola Company, The Making of 'I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke' Archived October 26, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
• Brian Wolly (May 18, 2015). "American History Museum Scholar on the History of the "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" Advertisement". Smithsonian Magazine.

• Peace songs
• 1971 songs
• 1971 singles
• 1972 singles
• Advertising campaigns
• Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
• Number-one singles in New Zealand
• Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles
• Oricon Weekly number-one singles
• Promotional campaigns by Coca-Cola
• Songs about music
• Songs about racism and xenophobia
• Songs based on jingles
• Songs written by Roger Cook (songwriter)
• Songs written by Roger Greenaway
• Super Bowl commercials
• UK singles chart number-one singles
• 1971 quotations
• Quotations from music
• 1970s television commercials
• Philips Records singles
• Polydor Records singles
• Elektra Records singles