AUDIO: WRITER OF MISTER SOFTEE JINGLE, DEAD AT 94
Les Waas, the advertising legend who wrote the Mr. Softee ice cream jingle, died earlier this month at the age of 94. Waas’s distinct jingle could be heard blaring from 1,000 trucks during its peak in the 1960s. Today, there are 600 Mister Softee trucks operating in 15 states – not just in the northeast – and that song still plays. He also wrote more than 900 other jingles for the Coast Guard, Ford, the Philadelphia Phillies, Holiday Inn and more. Waas lamented the state of modern jingles, and said most radio ads were just announcers reading commercials. “They don’t go into creativity as much as they used to and I think it was Internet that did it,” Waas said. “I don’t see a great deal of innovation and creativity at all in what I see on the computer. The ads and the commercials, they don’t seem to grab your attention.”
* Yeah, but think of all the porn!
* Then he whistled his other famous jingle, “Get off my lawn.”
* So many fantastic talents dying lately. And also this guy.
* No creativity in today’s jingles? How about “We are farmers – Dum dee Dum Dum, Dum-dum-dum!” Genius!
* And during football season, I never got tired of watching Peyton Manning make up his own lyrics for “Nationwide is on Your Side.” “Crawfish shorts, I like your style.” Fabulous!
* Les Waas, now he isn’t.
* Mr. Softee is now Mr. Stiffy.
* You think your job sucks? How about listening to the same jingle for 8 hours while you drive around in an ice cream truck?
* Can you imagine the heavy thrash metal these workers have to listen to to get over that?
* There’s another brainstorm for you: Ad jingles as they would sound by Megadeth or Metallica.
* Les sure got in some world-class whining before he left, didn’t he?
* Quick! Let’s cancel the Internet. It’s hurting ad jingles!
CLIP: The Mister Softee jingle.
