‘It’s My Greatest Hit!’ Barry Manilow Stuns Chris Wallace With Jaw-Dropping Commercial Jingles You Never Knew He Wrote
Music legend Barry Manilow told CNN anchor Chris Wallace his “greatest hit” is one of several commercial jingles you probably never knew he wrote — and which he sang for Wallace.
Wallace interviewed Manilow for this week’s edition of his Max series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace on a variety of topics related to the superstar’s lengthy career and personal life.
In one exchange, Wallace asked Manilow about his early career writing jingles that went on to make the whole world sing — and was stunned to learn what Manilow was paid for those enduring ditties:
WALLACE: So you know, you were not an overnight sensation, you started around 1970 writing commercial jingles. You say somebody would hand you a lyric, and say give us 15 to 30 seconds of music to go with it.
MANILOW: Yeah, the first time they asked me to do that. I didn’t know about those rules. It was a Dodge commercial. And I had I wrote a nice melody to the lyric they gave me. And it was like three minutes long. (laughs)
WALLACE: Had you never seen a commercial?
MANILOW: No, I never even thought about you know, what do you do? How do you write it? So as I learned about that, you got to write 15, 15 seconds, or 30 seconds. That’s about it. And that was very helpful when I did get into the pop music world, because the rules are the same. You’ve got to get a hook in 15 seconds that people will remember for a commercial. And the same thing goes for a pop song, you got to get a hook right away. So people can sing it right back.
WALLACE: So let’s review some of these jingles that you wrote. And they’re classics.
MANILOW: “I am stuck on a Band-Aid, and a Band-Aid’s stuck on me!” I wish I had a piano here.
WALLACE: Okay, so that’s the band aid. And that was a very romantic one. State Farm Insurance.
MANILOW: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. The big one was you deserve a break today. So get up. Does anybody remember those songs? You know, they don’t do a melody. They don’t do catchy melodies anymore.
WALLACE: Let’s just take one because I think for most of us, McDonald’s is the king. It’s the OG – give us a sense of your process. How did I take it they gave you the words first? You deserve a break today?
MANILOW: Yeah. Well, I’d rather talk about a State Farm because (your show) yeah, no, because that one was I was singing on it. And that was arranging it and but State Farm they gave me a whole lyric of like a song lyric. You know, whenever you’re driving and wherever you’re – anyway I can do that. (Right) I made a really pretty melody to those lyrics. And then they took the like a good neighbor State Farm is there section and they ran with that.
WALLACE: They’re still using them today. You must have, did you make millions of dollars from this?
MANILOW: $500
WALLACE: $500 Million?
MANILOW: Dollars.
WALLACE: $500 Dollars? (That was it.) From each one?
MANILOW: No. $500. As a composer, they buy you out and that’s it. You don’t get residuals. You don’t, you never see it again. I mean, 500 dollars during that time, I was happy to get it. But they don’t pay the composer doesn’t get residuals. If you’re on the spot – if you’re singing, or you’re talking, then you get residuals. But the composer just gets a flat fee. And, you know, most of the commercials disappear after a month. These lasted for like 40 some odd…State Farm Insurance commercial has been there for over 40, it’s my greatest hit.
Watch above via Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace.
