The melody's familiar

I remember listening to the radio. Each program had a sponsor that paid to be mentioned at intervals during the program. Some of the products being touted by the advertisers had really cute musical songs attached to them. They were called "jingles."

It takes me back to the summer of 1942. I was walking down the street with a friend as we sang a jingle about Pepsi-Cola hitting the spot. To preface it with a little history will make the story worth telling. At that time one could buy a 6-ounce glass bottle of Coca-Cola for a nickel. One could get a two cent refund on the bottle. Imagine the advertising staff of Coca Cola fearing for their jobs when they heard this clever jingle:

"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot,

TWELVE full ounces, That's a lot.

Twice as much for a NICKEL, too,

Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you!"

It was a good melody and we all learned it. I never heard a rebuttal jingle from Coca-Cola but they survived. Later on they had "Things Go Better With Coke" and "It's The Real Thing."

When I was about 8, my mother used to purchase Lifebuoy bath soap. It contained Carbolic Acid and the smell of that soap certainly lingers on one's body. Only in a fit of madness would you call the smell a fragrance. We went to school smelling like the disinfectant. Teachers could write a book on classroom odors. We were nice and clean, though.

Lifebuoy had an interesting melody and words to their jingle.

"Singin' in the bathtub; singin' for joy ...

singin' the life of Lifebuoy,

Can't help singin' 'cuz I know that

Lifebuoy really stops B...O "

A candy that has survived the years: Life Savers. Their song never made the Hit Parade but their four line little cheer-like poem did: "Why do you call 'em Life Savers?" Because they have a hole in the middle. "Why do they have a hole in the middle?" So we can call 'em LifeSavers! Simple logic.

People get paid good money for thinking up these little ditties. I'm jealous. Sometimes these little jingles become a way of life and one never realizes how they began; they're just there.

Now, I never ever, "wished I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener," but lots of moms bought them.

I recall the song that sang to us about, "McDonald's Golden Arches," and they are a nationwide symbol that we look for when we want a quick meal.

I never did like to use Bosco because it was liquid chocolate and it could string all over the place as you made it. But Nestles? Yes! "Nestles is the very best!"

Chiquita Banana was the cutest little South American girl. You could dance to the song that she sang.

However in the U.S. , "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!"

The song is ended but the melodies linger on.