New Seekers – Id Like To Teach The World To Sing

“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” – Single by The New Seekers from the album We’d Like to Teach the World to Sing
B-side “Boom Town”
Released November 1971
Label Philips (Germany), Polydor (UK), Elektra (USA/Canada)
Songwriters Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, Bill Backer and Billy Davis
Producer David Mackay
Charted No.1 in UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Japan
Nr.2 in Norway
No.3 in Canada, Sweden
No.7 in US,
No.24 in West Germany

“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” is a pop song (originally known as “True Love and Apple Pie”) by British hit songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, and sung by Susan Shirley.

The lyrics were rewritten by the songwriters—together with US advertising executive Bill Backer and US songwriter Billy Davis—as a jingle for The Coca-Cola Company’s advertising agency, McCann Erickson, to become “Buy the World a Coke” in the 1971 “Hilltop” television commercial for Coca-Cola and sung by the Hillside Singers. “Buy the World a Coke” was produced by Billy Davis and portrayed a positive message of hope and love, featuring a multicultural collection of teenagers on top of a hill appearing to sing the song.

The New Seekers later recorded the song and sold 96,000 copies of their record in one day, eventually selling 12 million total. “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” climbed to #1 in the UK, #3 in Canada and #7 in the US in 1971 and 1972. The song became a gold record in the US and has also sold over a million copies in the UK. The Coca-Cola Company waived royalties to the song and instead donated $80,000 in payments to UNICEF. Billboard ranked this version as the No. 93 song for 1972.