Cough drop commercial from 1967 with Frank Zappa soundtrack

Richard Metzger is the current Boing Boing guest blogger

Clio-award winning Luden's cough drops commercial from 1967 with a Frank Zappa soundtrack.

[#1 posted by wolfiesma, April 3, 2009 3:28 PM]

What a symphony! The video does not even do that music justice. Better to close your eyes... The voiceover at the end doesn't really do anyone any favors either. But the music, my g-o-d-!

[#2 posted by Antinous / Moderator, April 3, 2009 3:38 PM]

Drop the 'n' and the voiceover makes perfect sense.

[#3 posted by Anonymous, April 3, 2009 3:40 PM]

The announcer at the end sounds like he mixed up his 'ludes with his ludens...

[#4 posted by Anonymous, April 3, 2009 3:55 PM]

love that piece! FZ would re-use that snortling sound many times over, illustrative of his idea of conceptual continuity. few folks know that FZ was a talented and innovative sound engineer, recording his on own home-built quadraphonic sound system long before anyone else was even recording in stereo!

[#5 posted by daverunsfromfire, April 3, 2009 4:04 PM]

Excellent post. I've been delving into his full-orchestra atonal work, so this is really satisfying. Sweet that he found a way to make money with stuff that is not "strictly commercial."

[#6 posted by Cycling in Hollywood, April 3, 2009 4:58 PM]

that is one of the best commercials i have ever seen

[#7 posted by Roy Trumbull, April 3, 2009 5:08 PM]

I'd seen pictures of FZ but it still didn't prepare me to see the real dude during my brief tour in acid-rock radio.
Anyone have a source for the following quote attributed to him: "There's got to be more to life than a tight ass and a good backhand."

[#8 posted by spt3125, April 3, 2009 5:38 PM]

that just might be FZ doing the voiceover at the end? (i'm not sure but it does sound like him...)

[#9 posted by Phikus, April 3, 2009 7:35 PM]

Roy Trumbull: I can't help you there, but that sounds like something he might have said.

SPT3125: It's not. I promise you.

Zappa did a radio commercial for the Remington Electric Razor back in '68-'69 also. Definitely worth a listen if you can find it.

[#10 posted by iMatthew, April 3, 2009 8:06 PM]

No way that is FZ doing the voiceover. It sounds more like Geoffrey Holder, the uncola nut dude, than FZ (and it doesn't sound like the uncola nut dude ; ))

[#11 posted by urwhatuiz, April 3, 2009 8:11 PM]

That totally IS FZ doing the voice at the end. You can tell by his annunciation.

[#12 posted by InsertFingerHere, April 3, 2009 8:28 PM]

I would gladly watch commercials all day if they were as good as that one.

There's those animated/live commercials (I think it's insurance) it's done the exact style of 'A Scanner Darkly' and it freaks the living bejeesus out of me... ASD is not meant to be watched herbally unassisted. So when you are lucid and see that on The Ellen show, it give the brain a little rattle.

I've always though graphic & layout design was just delicious in the 60's. It was so fresh, so new. Any sites out there that use that 60's style for modern information?

[#13 posted by Richard Metzger, April 3, 2009 8:34 PM]

I do not believe that is Frank Zappa's voice at the end, either.

A few of the coughs certainly do sound like they might be his, though.

[#14 posted by evildoug, April 3, 2009 8:45 PM]

Can't say for sure, but I'm in the Zappa voiceover camp.

[#15 posted by Dr. Dave, April 3, 2009 9:02 PM]

So... just to confirm...

"Frank Zappa" is the new "ukulele video"?

I'll make a note.

[#16 posted by Clayton Hove, April 3, 2009 11:52 PM]

That's certainly how my coughs look!

[#17 posted by mrnoah, April 4, 2009 1:11 AM]

Sorry kids that voice is way to deep and gruff to be Frank Zappa in 1967. (setting aside that it simply doesn't sound like any Zappa character voice I've ever heard) His voice drops considerably following an incident in 1971, when his larynx was crushed. Prior to that his voice wasn't particularly deep sounding.

The voice actor isn't Zappa. But Zappa's voice (as a writer of funny things to say) sure comes through loud and clear.

[#18 posted by frankieboy, April 4, 2009 11:40 AM]

Not to mention those cough drops are great! I haven't had them in ages, but I'm reminded how much I liked the menthol kind. Cherry not so much, but the menthols are the bomb. Medicated schmedicated I'd eat 'em like candy.

[#19 posted by ill lich, April 5, 2009 11:50 AM]

I don't understand why people think it's FZ doing the voiceover. Knowing FZ, and the way commercials are made, I seriously doubt he would have been hired to do the voiceover, they would get a "voice professional" for that, like William "Rosko" Mercer, or Ken Nordine, or one of the lesser known announcers. It also sounds only marginally like FZ (about as much like Rosko as FZ, in fact).

Anyway, "conceptual continuity" is really an excuse for FZ to recycle parts of his compositions (AND it's perfectly valid in any artistic endevour, lest you think I'm dissing)-- those "snorks" and the harmonically ambiguous arpeggios reappear on "We're Only In It For the Money."

[#20 posted by Dan Wineman, April 5, 2009 10:08 PM]

The audio track (minus voiceover) is on the Lost Episodes compilation, titled The Big Squeeze.