1972 The New Seekers: I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)

Like Robin Beck's 1988 number one 'The First Time', ' I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing' owes its genesis to a jingle originally written for a Coca Cola television advert ('I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke'). And not just any old advert either - Coke's short film of multicultural teens singing on a hillside outside Rome is one of the most iconic images from the decade and has been called "one of the best-loved and most influential ads in TV history"*

There's no doubt that the tune is a strong one (strong enough for Oasis to steal it for 'Shakermaker' in 1994 anyway), and the ascending layers of vocal carries over well from jingle to song proper. And though sappy and drippy, the re-written lyrics work far better than those of the advert - there's something faintly ludicrous about glassy eyed teens looking to bring about world peace through sugary pop, especially when some of the thousand yard stares on display look like they'd just escaped the Manson Family and were en-route to Jim Jones' compound.

On the other hand, like the Beck track that was to come, the ad trumps the song conclusively with its brevity; a full cycle of the verses is all that's needed to display everything the tune has to offer. The advert, in effect, leaves you wanting more whereas The New Seekers reveal that what you want isn't necessarily what you need. The jingle origins of the song are laid bare when stretched out and its limitations are revealed through repetition - the ever spiralling verses are never satisfactorily resolved in a hook or chorus, and piling on layer after layer of vocals and treacly lyrics bogs it down into a dead end paralysis that the prettiness of the initial tune can't hope to rescue. As I've said before, less is often more. Why won't people listen eh?

* Incidentally, watching the blonde girl singing the opening lines is one of my earliest ever memories. It might even explain my one time addiction to the stuff - after all, a brew that could bring about world peace surely couldn't be bad for you in any way. Could it?