Summertime always reminds me of that iconic Coca Cola advertisement from July 1971, "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing", recorded with the Hilltop Singers.
The Coca Cola Company's ad agency, McCann Erickson, envisioned an entire ad campaign by reaching out to singer/songwriters, and the music industry itself, to create original music featuring Coca Cola.
The release of the Hilltop Singers' "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" became so overwhelmingly popular that it completely overshadowed the other singing ad that was released at the same time:
This ad with the cyclists really struck a chord with me and I'm still not sure who sings in the ad, but I still like it even though few people even remember it. Funny how I remember the ad few ever saw.
Even country music caught the Coke craze as Dotty West and Billy Joe Royal released Coke ads that won over fans and garnered praise from the advertising industry.
Of course I must include the original ad that took the world by storm and won soo much praise that it was re-recorded by two different groups with references to Coke removed.
The Hilltop Singers revised the song for inclusion as an album, but yet another revised version was released by The New Seekers on their album inspired by the "world harmony" craze:
Now, just to make sure you guys understand what a different time the early 1970's was, here is the hit song from the Netherlands by the duo "Mouth & MacNeal", that topped the charts in every major country around the world. Here is "Mouth & MacNeal", M&M, on the German TV broadcaster, ZDF, in 1972, featuring "Mouth's" drunk puppet friend that I named "Hans" (never found out the puppet's real name).
Everyone calls the song, "How Do You Do", but I think the actual title is "Hey, That's What I'm Living For". "Mouth & MacNeal" were so much fun together that people assumed they were married, they were - just not to each other!
