30 Second Spots - What Would Barbie Sing?

click here to hear What Would Barbie Sing?

It's a song in the format: verse, chorus, verse, chorus. Not like me at all to do that.

Copyright © July 3-7, 2006 by David Ocker - 53 seconds

Leslie suggested the words to the chorus.



What Would Barbie Sing?
(verse)
I'm Barbie.
I'm Barbie
What would I sing for you?
(chorus)
Math is hard.
(verse)
I'm sexy
And plastic,
And Christian through and through.
(chorus)
Math is hard.
Math is hard.

No, the vocals are not on this track. Do a good Barbie voice? Feel free to overdub and send it in.

WWBS? was inspired by this recent article in the Los Angeles Times. It tells about advertising composer Tena Clark (a resident of Pasadena California) as she works to create the perfect musical signature for Mattel's little dollie Barbie. It's called a Sonic Brand. No, not like they do to cattle, I hope.

Since L.A.Times articles disappear after a while, here are some quotes that made me laugh and shudder:

Would Barbie be three notes, or four? Would they cascade up or down?

"Someday a little girl will walk through a store with her parents, and she'll faintly hear a few notes, and will turn to her dad and say, 'I want a Barbie doll,' "

If Barbie were a song, what would she sound like?

... research on how the brain processes music made a case for why three- or four-note songs could sell millions of plastic dolls or hamburgers.

Procter & Gamble Co. has experimented with in-store motion sensors that play the Charmin toilet tissue jingle when shoppers pass by its shelves. Companies are working sonic brands into in-store music and other background sounds.


I can only remember ever writing one other actual song in my life. That was back in college. I'm pretty sure the music is forever lost, but I remember most of the words. Here they are:

The Musician's Alphabet

Alban Berg
Claude Debussy
Edwin Franko Goldman
Henricus Isaac
Jerome Kern
Leopold Mozart
Nicolai, Otto
Porter, Quincy
Richard Strauss

That's as much as I remember. I'm pretty sure Vladimir Ussachevsky didn't get included. Anyone know a composer with just one name beginning with T. Or with initials W.X., X.W., Y.Z. or Z.Y. ? (Each name in the lyrics links to Wikipedia.)

Video -a Gloria Estefan trailer (What? I'm a sucker for her album Mi Tierra . Tradicion, the song on this video, inspired a piece of mine called Two Minute Warning. It was the last piece I ever wrote for live performance. You can ignore the video on this video.)

Barbie has appeared in a previous Mixed Meters post. That one also includes advertising and religious subject matter. Virgins and Suicide. Click here.

Explanation of 30 second spots

30 Second Spots
Media
Religion
Advertising