Barry Manilow Loves Jingles And Dr Pepper

Barry Manilow went in for his bi-monthly check up with Dr. Pepper. Winner of several Emmys, American Music Awards, and Grammys and member of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, Barry had still never met anyone like Dr. Pepper.

The people at Keurig Dr PepperKDP
set Barry up with the genuine doctor, the real deal guy after the work Barry had done for the Dr Pepper jingle back in the day. It was the least they could do, the lady on the phone said.

Dr. Pepper’s bedside manner and professionalism were pierced by the humanity in the old doctor – which flashed often with dry humors. The doctor only saw friends and family of the soda stream in his old age, but everyone knew he was as sharp as his youth. If it required surgery or sugar and tea, the good doctor was ready. Dr. Pepper even visited the set of the new ad Barry and Keurig Dr Pepper were cooking up for Dr Pepper Dark Berry.

Earlier this year, Barry and Dr Pepper reunited to celebrate the Dark Berry limited launch where he served as the official “SpokesBarry” in a campaign, “Barry’s Deserve Dark Berry”.

Dr. Pepper didn’t tell anyone he was at the shoot. It would have caused a panic or a stir, each as lethal as cyanide to the surgical process of a commercial filming. The director would have been forced to wade against the high tide of something more than a celebrity, a legend, showing up on his set unannounced. Dr. Pepper’s humility wouldn’t have it.

Dr. Pepper was checking Manilow’s ear. He would be in there for four or five minutes at a time for both ears, as was their little tradition. Manilow assumed it was because Dr. Pepper was the best in the business whether it was the ear or the prostate examination – which on another untold occasion was done with the proper expeditious timing.

In a way, Dr. Pepper’s long pauses built on the confidence of his patients. He would sit and stare so long he would see problems no one else had seen if they were there to be seen. He’d pop in with a eureka.

The real reason Dr. Pepper was staring in Manilow’s ears so long was because he wanted to know what it was about those ears that heard such beautiful music before it was ever played. Barry’s ears, to the doctor, heard premonitions or backwards in time. He’d sit in the mystery for minutes until he saw something of note or barreled the mystery up to the Tao.

“I was a struggling musician in New York, and I got a phone call from a jingle company saying they had heard my demo reel of something I had written. And they asked would I be interested in going up to try to write a jingle for one of the companies that they represented. And I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I said, sure. I went up for a Dodge commercial, a car. They would give you the lyric, Dodge depend on it,” said Barry to Dr. Pepper lost in his patient’s left ear.

“That’s all they gave me, and they wanted me to write a 32 second melody that would go on ‘Dodge, depend on it.’ And I didn’t really know what 32 seconds sounded like, so I wrote what I thought was a melody,” said Barry. “And now and again, I would yell, Dodge depend on it.”

The doctor hummed an uhm.

“Well, my first jingle lasted about two minutes ‘cause I really had no sense of what 30 seconds was. I didn’t get the commercials, but the company really liked what I had done. And from then on, that company kept calling me with jingles they wanted me to try to write melodies for,” said Barry. “They had a whole bunch of composers that were going and trying to win each commercial because you don’t get that much money if you write them but if you sing them or you play on them, it’s a better check.”

“I worked in the jingle world for a couple of years while I was still doing loads of other things, and it was fun. And most of all, I learned a lot about writing a very catchy melody in 15 seconds or at the most 30 seconds. And that really, helped when I found myself in the pop music world which is about catchy, hooky, melodies,” said Barry. “And the most important thing was when I would go into the recording studio with these orchestras ‘cause they always had big orchestras and engineers.”

“I learned so much from these musicians and engineers. I learned much more during my years in jingles that I ever did in school, my college. I’ll always be grateful for those years. The money wasn’t great for me, it certainly helped pay the rent, but it was that learning that really made a difference for me,” said Barry. “It was much more.”

Doctor Pepper cleaned his tool with a wipe from his cabinet and switched ears and continued to listen questioning in his head, what is it about these ears?

“These musicians were teaching me ranges and the ranges of instruments. Sure, I can learn it from a book, but there’s nothing like it when they play what I wrote. I wrote it an octave too high. It just went on and on. Trying to conduct a big orchestra, I was young, and I didn’t know about that,” said Barry. “These musicians were so kind to me, to say nothing of the making of a single. It’s just like making a record of standing in the studio, watching these engineers and producers produce a jingle. And I had never done anything like that. It was so valuable to me.”

“In the beginning, when I started to go on the road promoting my first and second albums, I didn’t have any hits, and I’ve never done that. Anyway, I didn’t even know what I was doing on that stage, but I did know that if I don’t have something they will recognize, I’m not sure the audience would be very interested,” said Barry.

After some time, the doctor had some images and memories fall into place. Barry was bringing the story of a German boyband whose music was largely turned to ash by the Nazis to Broadway. As a kid in Williamsburg – a tough neighborhood at the time, Barry would count his stars lucky and sterling if he got home without receiving a beating. And across the world, he raised more money for high school music education than anyone the doctor’d ever met.

“So, I put together a medley of my commercials and, oh my God. The audiences just went crazy. They loved it. It blew the roof off the place. And it was like having a hit record,” said Barry Manilow.

“I did the arrangement for the Dr Pepper jingle. I went, ‘Dr Pepper, the joy of every boy and girl. It’s the most original, soft drink ever in the whole wide world.’ I went up for it, and I didn’t get the commercial,” said Barry. “My melody didn’t. They bought somebody else’s melody, but they liked what I did so much they put my vocals on it. On the commercial spot, I give the lip sync to somebody else singing and dancing. I made a lot of money on that those couple of months.”

“I saw you were in Vegas being honored with a CLIO,” said Dr. Pepper. CLIOs are awards for advertising. Barry received one for his lifelong work on jingles for Nationwide, Band-Aid, and – of course – Dr Pepper.

“So, they gave me some kind of a thing, and I sat through the entire award ceremony. And they would play these commercials for that year that were winning that year’s awards. And none of them had a jingle,” said Barry. “It was all background music, car commercials with background stuff, or clothing, just background music. There was not one of them that had like a ‘good neighbor.’ Not one in the entire year had a melody, a memorable melody that people would hear and walk away humming with. It was really very powerful. But they stopped doing that, and they don’t lean on the music anymore. I guess it’s all visual these days.”

“You’re all set to go,” said Dr. Pepper putting away his tools.

“So soon?” asked Barry.

“Say, before you leave answer an old man’s question. What do you think made you able to do it all?” said Dr. Pepper.

“Well, I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s for me to answer,” said Barry.

“I think it’s because you care and you found a lot of love in some wonderful pockets,” said Dr. Pepper. “I’ll see you soon, Barry.”