24 August 2010
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Burma Shave Jingles
While brainstorming ideas with colleagues for an internal contest at my company, I thought it might be fun to ask employees to come up with an advertising jingle for one of our programs, done in the style of Burma Shave. Many of you may not know of Burma Shave. It was an American brand of brushless shaving cream that came about in the 1920s and was known for its clever roadside advertising.In the days before huge billboards, Burma Shave jingles were usually five rhyming lines that were arranged on sequential roadside signs. The red signs with white lettering would conclude with the name of the product: Burma Shave. They were clever and are a staple of mid 20th Century Americana.
My colleagues liked the idea and we’ve sent it up the flagpole to see if those higher up approve it. If so, I’ll have to figure out how to announce the contest in a way that clearly explains to our employees, the vast majority of whom are too young to have heard of Burma Shave, what the objective is.
Browsing an online collection of the entirety of their jingles, arranged by year, I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.
Tho stiff
The beard
That Nature gave
It shaves like down
With
Burma-ShaveAre your whiskers
When you wake
Tougher than
A two-bit steak?
Try
Burma-ShaveYour beauty, boys
Is just
Skin deep
What skin you’ve got
You ought to keep
Burma-ShaveCollege boys!
Your courage muster
Shave off
That fuzzy
Cookie duster
Burma-ShaveIf you think
She likes
Your bristles
Walk bare-footed
Through some thistles
Burma-ShaveRiot at
Drug store
Calling all cars
100 customers
99 jars
Burma-ShaveHis tenor voice
She thought divine
Till whiskers
Scratched
Sweet Adeline
Burma-ShaveCooties love
Bewhiskered places
Cuties love the
Smoothest faces
Shaved by
Burma-ShaveA peach
Looks good
With lots of fuzz
But man’s no peach
And never wuz
Burma-ShavePrickly pears
Are picked
For pickles
No peach picks
A face that prickles
Burma-ShaveSaid Farmer Brown
Who’s bald on top
”Wish I could
Rotate the crop”
Burma-ShaveIf you
Don’t know
Whose signs these are
You can’t have
Driven very far
Burma-ShaveMaybe we should have a Xanga Blog jingle contest?
A comment
Smiley
Or a rec
Make me as happy
As all heck
XangaWhat do you think?
Comments (21)
Hehe. I learned something new this morning.
I’ve learned something new as well!
I remember the Burma Shave signs when driving around the country. Boy that was years ago. I have to admit they were a distraction
.
The Burma Shave jingles are cool. I neve knew about them.
Xanga jingle??
rants are common
but pictures put a smile
don’t much care for a sermon
Chris’s food porn, stretches a mile.
Xanga!!
(Your)
Comments, insights
Photos and food
Always brighten
A dour mood
christao408
Now we’ll have to put the words to song. I propose something like this.
BTW, love the drugstore one.
Brings back memories of drives from Southeast Kansas to Northwest Missouri. Rather than a distraction, it helped the miles go by for four children who kept busy looking for the signs and reading them. Sometimes we didn’t understand the humor, depending on our ages, but they helped pass the time.
wow
Haha, now that is pretty creative
I can see how it caught on and was effective.
I actually used the theme in a blues song I wrote twenty years ago. (Having seen the signs along the highways all through the 50s.
You got Allah who’s akhbar
Jesus who Saves
Ya see Moses investing
Y’all know that..
Burma Shaves.
(The last line is a hint toward eastern religions, gracefully free of rhyming slogans, ha)
That sounds like a fun contest to me!
We had a book with a huge collection of the jingles. Very creative. I miss that kind of advertising.
Blogs of opinions,
Introspective or crass…eh
What I’m interested in
Is that enormous mass
of pictures.
Xanga!
@sassyjessie - @jsolberg - @Senlin - @ZSA_MD - Okay, the four of you earned bonus points for creativity!
@Roadkill_Spatula - @AzureRecollections - It seem like so much advertising these days are not half as clever.
@jandsschultz - @Fatcat723 - There are a few of the jingles I still don’t understand!
@Finity - @Dezinerdreams - We aim for daily education at this blog… Ha ha!
@TheCheshireGrins - Maybe we can convince Alex to organize it… he likes to be made responsible for the big organizational things, right? =D
@yang1815 - Um, it is supposed to be five or six lines, not just one word, Andy… =P
I like the idea and hope it flies at work. As for xanga – sounds like a contest to me! (as the competitive overzealousness rises to the surface)
I have
A badge that
Proclaims True
Want one for Life
And Premium too
Xanga
Hmmm… interesting. I never saw them in Canada so I’m guessing this is US only.
I’ll have to think of something.
@ElusiveWords - Yeah, I think those were the days when all Canadians had beards.
@murisopsis - Oh, very clever!
Hehe some great jingles there Chris. Can’t think of a Xanga one at the minute, but may do later.
@Chatamanda - I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to think of one before someone actually organizes an official contest.
i remember reading those along route 66 ()when i was a kid. we drove croass country from calif. to mn every summer to visit relatives and those signs were the highlight of the long trip.
I`d have them make paper hats
@grannykaren - These days, sadly, the highlight of such a trip would be watching “Toy Story” on the back seat DVD player for the umpteenth time!