Toyota commercial

Toyota, like all the other car companies in the U.S., is promoting sales for the last of the 2004 models. I was watching the news the other night when their commercial came on, and the music caught my attention. It was big and brassy (which I love) and would have been appropriate for the march of conquering heros in any epic film.

I was entranced.

Then I recognized the tune. It was only the verse, and they repeated the last line when the salesman and the happy customer gave each other an airborne high five.

Now I laugh every time it comes on. The name of the song is, "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor."* You can find some of the lyrics here, but it's missing the one I know:

Put him in the crow's nest until he's sober,
Put him in the crow's nest until he's sober,
Put him in the crow's nest until he's sober,
Earl-eye in the morning

Personally, the thought of dragging a drunk sailor up the mast to the crow's nest sounds a little daunting to me, but I guess if you're a big burly man it might not be such a big deal.

If you change crow's nest to jail cell, you could sing "What Do You Do With A Drunken Driver" but Toyota might not like that!

*I actually remember learning this song in a grade school music class. I came home from school and sang it for my dad, who was flabbergasted. It wasn't that his innocent little girl was singing about drunken sailors; it was that he'd heard the song at a Rendezvous and I'd learned it at school!