Was Prince ever supposed to do a Coca Cola commercial? I can't believe my ears... I am listening to a bootleg of Prince doing that "Uh Huh" thingy... What's up with that? Anyone know?

Nope.can't say that I do and I never heard anything of him supposed to be doing a Coca Cola commercial either

although they are both brown and sugary (like my women)..methinks it was PEPSI, not Coca Cola that eventually snagged the uh huhh...

bit of clarity on sub.
prince wrote "uh-huh" 4 ray charles as a spiritual song. (look around, some boots, like "the work" set have it)
pepsi approched ray 4 a new song 4 a new ad campain...ray offered "uh-huh" but insisted prince b paid 4 it since he wrote it, and pepsi actually paid!!!

source?? try http://www.dtt-lyrics.com...A-Z.html#U

"Uh Huh" was Prince's song. He gave it to Ray Charles and it ended up in the Pepsi commercial that you're thinking about.

Uh-Huh.
[Edited 3/4/05 18:56pm]

Rumours have suggested Prince also penned the 'Always the real thing' Coca-Cola jingle.
Can anybody shed some light on this?

sabaisabai said:

I don't think so...

Doozer said:

I think it's possible.

I heard something like this b4. apparently the media wanted to have some kinda face off between p and mj. Since mj was doing pepsi,they wanted p to do coke.

The always coca-cola jingle debuted in what, early summer of 93? Suprisingly, according to Uptown and even in Controversy magazine before it discontinued said a song by Prince entitled "Coca-Cola" was published by Controversy music in April 1993.

The act II Tour was sponsered by Coca-Cola and on only one instance reported in the last issue of Controversy was a lil bit of the jingle played by Morris Hayes on keyboard before one of the shows, again according to the last issue of Controversy.

Those are the sources I have heard it from. Also, when Prince was recording with Chris Moon in 1977, part of the deal was to make radio jingles in a trade for studio time. I wonder if any ever made it to radio and if anyone actually has those in existence.
[Edited 3/4/05 22:24pm]

Well everyone knows MJ did Pepsi until his hair caught on fire and Prince (his rival) was supposed to do Coke but pulled out or refused.

jseven said:

Uptown's 'Turn It Up 2.0' and 'The Vault' both reference a song called 'Coca-Cola'

"Turn It Up" suggests that the song was registered at the Library of Congress on October 22nd 1992.

"Tha Vault" states that the song was recorded betwee 1991 and 1992.

A check at the Library of Congress on 'Coca Cola' (not 'Coca-cola') as at today shows a recording registered as follows:

Registration Number: PAu-1-686-476
Title: Coca Cola / w & m Prince Rogers Nelson (aPrince)
Claimant: Controversy Music
Created: 1992
Registered: 22Oct92
Title on © Application: Coca Cola jingle.
.

langebleu's info is right. I thought my dates might be wrong and I was right. So that makes me right for being wrong, right?


Whenever there's a pool there's always a flirt
Whenever there is school there always be homework
Wherever there is Coca-Cola there always be fun.....
Always Coca-Cola always the one


(There was a 2nd verse that aired a few times and a few other commercials that featured different words. No actors or anyone were in the commercials, just the coca-cola label with the words and rotating images.)

Wow, I remember seeing the commercial on TV with Ray singing it, but I never ever knew that Prince wrote it! Very cool info. Thanks!

Now, did Prince write this song for Ray intending it for Coca-Cola? Or did he write it for Ray just in general and Ray decided to use it for Coke? Or did Prince "write a new song for Ray" but actually had it in the Vault for years and dug it out and claimed he "just wrote it yesterday for Coke". Or did Ray agree to let Jamie Foxx portray him in the movie in exchange for coke? lol

Tim Kaye
www.timkaye.com

The quotes from 'The Vault':

Uh-Huh! - is a blues-tinged number built around a funky bass line. Prince has incorporated sampled parts from a Ray Charles Diet Pepsi commercial into his song.

(So they seem to suggest it wasn't a complete song written for Ray Charles? Can we clear up this matter? Did Prince write it or did Ray Charles? I did a google on Ray Charles and Uh Huh and they never say it was written by Prince - this advert won awards at the time: "So popular were the spots that Advertising Age named Charles its Star Presenter of 1990, and the series was awarded Campaign of the Year in 1991").

Coca-Cola - This was filed at the Library of Congress on October 22nd 1992. It has been assumed that Prince composed a signature theme for the soft drink company, possibly as part of a deal with their sponsorship of the Act II tour of Europe, yet nothing has ever been confirmed. In fact, close associates and band members at the time have no knowledge of Prince writing anything for Coca-Cola, so this item remains something of a mystery. However, the lyrics, as filed at the Library of Congress, clearly show that the track was intended as a commercial, "Life is exciting, ah yeah, but when you've got the real thing , it's better. Coca-Cola, go get some, it's the real thing. Always Coca-Cola."

Isn't the story that Prince got paid quite well for writing "Uh-Huh!"?

there might be a lot of misunderstanding about this by people eager to believe... but here is what i have gathered over the years since 1995...

Uh-huh was written by two guys for the Pepsi commercial for ray charles. just a jingle...

prince heard it and liked it and sampled the churus and constructed his own song out of it. it came a bit later.

the coca cola song by prince is unheard and different then the always coca cola jingle that was aired.

Whatever happened, I'm glad his work for the soft drink giants didn't get a lot of publicity. It's just a bit too corporate for my taste, especially in light of his battles with Warner. He has obviously avoided being too involved with advertising, with few exceptions -- some of his songs have been used in ads, and there was the Versace ad a few years ago. Part of his persona is about his mystique, and doing a lot of ads would have made him too familiar and possibly turned him into a breathing caricature of himself.

ufoclub said:

Are you sure about that - the prince track isn't making a song out of the chorus, the prince track is identical to the ray charles song, only the song doesn't last as long in the commercial.

Did Ray Charles ever perform the song outside of the diet pepsi commercials and are the commercials themselves online anywhere?

I'm not sure about anything, but look it up on the original info source, alt.music.prince... or ask people that were connected to prince's business like "t". Ask on housequake and on alt music prince... or... ask ray charles's people or pepsi.... I dunno... but don't only ask a prince fanatic!

alandail said:

I believe you can look the song up at the library of congress - I don't have a link to where you look stuff like this up, though.

that won't tell you much info!

alandail said:

The Library of Congress can be searched at:

http://www.copyright.gov/.../cohm.html

It is off-line over the weekend.

It will tell you who has been registered for copyright purposes and when the registration took place.

It won't reveal who actually wrote each song and when, because it's quite possible that the writer of a piece can gift the copyright to another, and not reveal when the original composition was created.

Alt.music.prince can be searched via Google:

Go to Google Groups at http://groups-beta.google.com/

and punch something like: alt.music.prince+Ray+Charles+Pepsi

in the search engine for entries since 1997 at least debating this.

.

it won't tell you if the song is the same as the one in the commercial!

langebleu said:

ufoclub said:

I haven't looked the song up, but entries do sometimes reference adaptations of and contributions from other songs by crediting authorship.
.

ufoclub said:

if a Prince copyright on "Uh Huh!" or "You Got The Right One" or some variation on that is registered before 1991, then it's clearly his song as his track is the song from the commercial. If it post dates 1991, then you have to see if he ever before had a song performed before it showed up in the library of congress and also see if he ever before registered someone else's work as his own. He covers songs on emancipation, and he changes some lyrics on a couple of songs, but I wouldn't think he registered either song as his own.

Registration Number: PAu-1-570-584
Title: Uh huh / Prince Rogers Nelson.
Note: Words & music.
Claimant: Controversy Music
Created: 1991
Registered: 15Oct91

and the verdict?

Since Prince has a song called Uh-huh registered under his name, it is likely he DID write it, and therefore gave it to Ray Charles for the advert.

But there's still a chance that he merely recorded his own version of Uh-huh based around the advert but creating a full-length song out of it, and it is this version that he has been allowed to copyright as his own. Less likely, but possible?

I'm not sure we'll ever know for definite, unless anyone can find proof that Ray Charles said Prince got paid for it? What we need is an obssessed Ray Charles fam to clarify it!

If Prince didn't write some of the lyrics and music, wouldn't that have to be noted in the registration. It says "Words & music".