On Old TV Land comes back to Haunt:

I’ve been outside a lot lately. I have an MP3 player but I haven’t always been using it while working on the spring pruning and garden work. I usually have music running in my head like a movie theme to my life so I don‘t miss it much.

But lately I’m getting TV commercial jingles… Old TV commercials. Speedy Alka-Seltzer singing of stomach relief, Zippy the postal code teaching you about the five digit code, Sani-flush toilet bowl cleaner, Coronet paper towels, even beer, liquor, and cigarettes.

Maybe it was Baldy Fella’s blog and his old theme songs last week. Those are always close by in easy reference in my head and I‘m not the only one. People ponder a question and someone in the room starts singing the theme to Jeopardy, someone is searching for something like they are on a quest and you hear the Mission Impossible theme, or something strange happens and you hear do, do, do, do… from the old TwilightZone in chorus.

Almost all of the jingles in my head lately are from before the 70’s. When I close my eyes I see them in black and white. ‘See the USA in a Chevrolet’ ‘Plop, plop fizz, fizz, Oh what a relief it is’ Marlboro Man on a horse in the Western Sunset guitar theme in the background.

Summer theme songs of places to play. ‘Palisades Amusement Park, Swings all day till after dark… You’ll have fun, so come on over.’ Freddy Cannon’s ‘Down at Palisades Park’ not withstanding. (Okay, so I’ve said before, I did grow up just outside of New York City.)

Commercials these days have current or old top forty songs more often then not. The kicky jingle, that stuck in your head to distraction, seems a thing of the past. Even TV shows are reusing music for their themes. Is all the music that is fit to hear used up?

Will we be hearing the old jungles come back too? If so, they can be referenced in my head anytime of the day or night. ‘I’m a Chiquita Banana and I’m here to say, if you want to enjoy your banana in an easy way… but never ever, ever put it in the refrigerator.’

Don’t blame me if they start popping up in you head. They were there all along, I just stirred them up.