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"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" is a pop song which originated as an advertising jingle, produced by Billy Davis and sung by The New Seekers, for Coca-Cola, and was featured in 1971 as a TV commercial.
The Hillside Singers also had a hit with the song around the same time. In 1990 the song was covered by Jevetta Steele for the compilation album Rubáiyát.
The song began life as a collaboration by UK hit songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway called "True Love and Apple Pie" and recorded by Susan Shirley. It was then rewritten by Cook, Greenaway, Coca-Cola account executive Bill Backer, and Billy Davis and recorded as a Coca-Cola radio commercial, with the lyric "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company."
First aired on American radio in February 1969, it was also used as a TV commercial later that year, sparking public demand for its release as a single. Reworked, again by Bill Backer and Billy Davis, to remove the references to the brand name, the single climbed to UK #1 and US #7 in 1971.
The Coca-Cola Company waived royalties to the song and instead donated $80,000 in payments to UNICEF. The song has since been recorded over 75 times.
The 1971 TV commercial featured young people from around the world singing on a hilltop, and was so popular that the song (without the Coke references) became a hit in its own right. Commercial recordings as a pop-song were issued by The New Seekers and The Hillside Singers.
In the commercial, the lead singer and the people surrounding her were filmed lip synching to the New Seekers radio version of the commercial. None of the actors actually sang in the TV version.
The song's success was particularly notable in the UK where it is one of the 100 best selling singles of all time.
The commercial, as one of the most popular of all time, is credited with helping Coca-Cola regain its status as the preeminent soft drink in North America.
When Coca Cola planned to broadcast this commercial in South Africa on the state-run SABC network, they wanted Coca Cola to use an all-white version, due to the apartheid givernment. Nevertheless, the commercial was accepted.