In 1965, Barry Manilow started working in the mailroom at CBS and became known as the \u201cpiano-playing mail boy\u201d while attending Juilliard. After being promoted to file clerk and briefly leaving his position job to tour with actress and singer Jeanne Lucas, Manilow was asked to take on the role of music director of a new show, Callback, when he returned to CBS in 1967, and later arranged the new theme song for The Ed Sullivan Show.<\/p>\n
By the early 1970s, Manilow already had a small catalog of commercial jingles in his songbook, arranging and composing for television and eventually moving into writing commercial jingles, including the \u201cBathroom Bowl Blues\u201d for the Green Bowlene toilet cleaner and the Pepsi song \u201cFeelin\u2019 Free.\u201d He also started singing some of the commercials himself, including the Randy Newman-penned \u201cJoin the Pepsi People\u201d for Pepsi and \u201cGive Your Face Something to Smile About\u201d for Stridex acne products in 1971, along with more songs for fast food chains, incluidng KFC and McDonald\u2019s in the early \u201980s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned the most about music working in the jingle industry,\u201d said Manilow. \u201cIt was the best music college I could ever imagine. What I learned most of all in my jingle days was how to write a catchy melody.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1971, Manilow also wrote one of the most iconic brand jingles \u201cStuck on Band-Aid\u201d\u2014I am stuck on Band-Aid brand, \u2019cause Band-Aid\u2019s stuck on me\u2014which he said was written \u201cin one pass,\u201d along with lyricist Donald B. Wood.<\/p>\n
\u2018Like a Good Neighbor\u2026 \u2018
\nThat year, Manilow also came up with the melody for Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is there, and got paid $500 without any additional residuals. \u201cYou get residuals if you\u2019re singing or talking on the commercial, but as a composer, you get a flat fee,\u201d said Manilow. \u201cIt\u2019s been going for 45 years, but nobody expected a jingle to last that long. Same thing with Band-Aid. And $500 was great for me at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the jingle, Manilow was only given the company slogan. \u201cThey just give you the lyric: \u2018Whenever you\u2019re driving and wherever you\u2019re bound\u2026 like a good neighbor, State Farm is there,\u2019\u201d recalled Manilow. \u201cThat\u2019s it. Then you try to write a catchy melody, something that will stick in listeners\u2019 ears in 15 seconds. For television, you get 15 seconds. If you\u2019re lucky, 30.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whenever you\u2019re driving
\nAnd wherever you\u2019re bound
\nOn freeways and byways
\nThe whole country round<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll feel better knowing\u2005anytime,\u2005anywhere
\nThat like a\u2005good neighbor
\nState Farm is there<\/p>\n
Your home\u2019s\u2005where your heart is
\nIt\u2019s a feeling that grows
\nThe house that you live in
\nThe love that it shows<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll feel better knowing anytime, anywhere
\nThat like a good neighbor
\nState Farm is there<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my greatest hit,\u201d joked Manilow of hearing the State Farm jingle still played on TV more than four decades later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1965, Barry Manilow started working in the mailroom at CBS and became known as the \u201cpiano-playing mail boy\u201d while attending Juilliard. After being promoted to file… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n