Even though Charlie Sykes ridiculed him for this, I was thinking the exact same thoughts as TV critic Tim Cuprisin:
What's a car got to do with a drunken sailor, car got to do with a drunken sailor, car got to do with a drunken sailor - on a Toyota commercial?
That's the question for the carmaker, which has been using an old sea shanty that features the extremely familiar query "what do you do with a drunken sailor?" as a musical backdrop to its current TV and radio advertising campaign for its "Toyota Time Sales Event."
The tune, and at least some version of the words, is so ingrained that you just may have unconsciously started singing along with the richly orchestrated version of the ditty, and then stopped abruptly at those two words: "drunken sailor."
Just so all the cards are on the table, this column is written by a guy who's on his fifth Toyota since college. So there's no anti-Toyota bias here. But there is a simple question: Why on Earth would you link your cars to drunks, nautical or otherwise?
Toyota spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell says Toyota's version of the tune doesn't have such lyrics. "That song has two different names. The first one is 'A Golden Boy Again' and it's also known as 'Early Dawn.' We licensed it through the NFL. The theme of our 'Toyota Time Sales Event' is actually athletics and sports. It was a song we thought would conjure up those affiliations and associations."
Well, elbow-bending is a sport in some quarters.
"Around here, no one's familiar with the song in that context," says Hubbell, who is based in California. "It may be a regional thing."
Arrrrrrrrrrrr, she may be right, mateys. We're a bunch of old salts around these parts.
Maybe you had to be in the Navy, or have had to play this song in grade school band. To me, the instrumental sounds like what the song intro would be if the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang a version of this tune.
UPDATE: Tim Cuprisin has a follow-up column. And -- be still my beating heart -- I stumbled upon a Drunken Sailor Ringtone for your mobile phone. And while we're at it, don't forget Talk Like A Pirate Day coming up September 19!
The Roger Wagner Chorale, of Los Angeles, California, recorded that sea chantey (Drunken Sailor) at the Hollywood studios of Decca Records, circa early 1960's.
Perhaps the Toyota spokes-babe is simply devoid of knowledge--or doesn't know anything whatsoever about California-based musical icons.
Posted by: Dad29 | 08/19/2005 at 08:27 AM
Here's the updated lyric?
What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
(repeat two more times)
Sell him a Toyota!!!
Way, ay, up he rises,
Way, ay, up he rises,
Way, ay, up he rises,
In his new Toyota....
Posted by: Dad29 | 08/19/2005 at 08:31 AM
We sang it a few times in Navy Boot Camp, but I think if anyone would have called it a "shanty", he would have gotten beat up.
Posted by: Tom McMahon | 08/19/2005 at 08:48 AM
My husband thought I was nuts when it dawned on me what that tune was, and I started singing the words! I thought it was pretty hilarious, although I have a problem with encouraging drunken sailors to drive any car, not just a Toyota!
Posted by: Kari | 08/19/2005 at 12:00 PM
Once they successfully get themselves drunk, sailors tend to have one more specific goal, especially if they're on shore leave. And it's not to drive a Toyota! ;-)
Posted by: Tom McMahon | 08/19/2005 at 12:35 PM
I mis-spoke in the first post.
The recording was at the CAPITOL studios, not Decca. (I think that Decca bought Capitol, however...)
Posted by: Dad29 | 08/21/2005 at 07:43 AM
Having discovered this late in the game, I'm stunned that "Drunken Sailor" is somehow associated with football instead of hockey. Seriously, has anyone ever heard the tune played at a football game? I know I haven't.
I've asked the NYT's Stuart Elliott to look into this aspect further; might be more to this.
Posted by: CT | 09/03/2005 at 10:42 AM