Sunday, May 3, 2009

I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing - Mä tahdon teidän oppivan


Eija Merilä (see previous entry) recorded "Mä tahdon teidän oppivan" (I'd like you to learn) in 1972. It was a modest hit for her, but achieved not nearly as much success as the original. The original song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" at first originated as a Coca-Cola advertising jingle with lyrics "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company", sung by the Hillside Singers, and was featured in 1971 as a TV commercial. The Hillside Singers' version was released as a successful single the same year; it reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group was born when advertising agency McCann Erickson got in touch with producer Al Ham, who then put together a group of singers for the project (including his wife, Mary Mayo, and their daughter Lori). The song began life as a collaboration by UK hit songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. The legend has it that idea originally came to Cook and Greenaway while delayed at Shannon Airport, Ireland, overhearing fellow travellers talking and joking near a Coca-Cola vending machine. As we all remember, New Seekers had a massive worldwide hit with this tune, but let's listen to the rarely heard original version.

Here's the pair:

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