2003 AUGUST 26 #238
Various Artists - Overture-How About Rambler?
American Motors was formed in 1954 as a combination of the Nash-Kelvinator Company and Hudson Motor Car Company, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s they focused primarily on Rambler automobiles as a well-appointed yet economy brand of vehicles.
In October of 1963, as part of their 1964 model year rollout, they gave their salespeople an album of tunes touting the cars of the year, titled "Goin' Great," letting their dealerships know that this was to be used during the "public announcement" of the brand new '64 Ramblers. The album consisted of eight tracks -- including two reprises -- proclaiming the superiority of the 1964 Ambassador, American, and Classic vehicles.
I do not know much more about what orchestra or singers were used on this album, as the only information given is that it consists of the "original cast." These tracks fall somewhere between showtunes and corporate jingles, insanely catchy and very easy to sing along to. Music to sell automobiles to.
This particular track starts the album, giving an overture of some of the later tracks (such as ""That's My Ambassador" and "Rambler Spirit"). It segues into "How About Rambler," a pean to the many things that make Rambler cars a success (value that anyone would proudly possess!) as well as "shouts outs" to other successful companies like NBC, Scotch Tape, Kleenex, and IBM.
Rambler (as a brand name) ceased by 1969, while American Motors went on to produce economy models like the Gremlin and Pacer through the 1970s, finally being bought out by Chrysler in the late 1980s.
I ended up with a copy of this album due
to my own,
http://www.gwensmith.com/interests/rambler/ - 1964 Rambler ownership, one of many 1964 Ramblers still
up and running.
- Gwen Smith, http://www.gwensmith.com
TT-5:14 / 7.2MB / 192kbps 44.1khz
(Image courtesy of Gwen Smith)
Jonathan Ward writes:
""Going Great" was produced in 1964 by the industrial
show team of Hank Beebe (music) and Bill Heyer (lyrics)
- two guys who really knew how to write entertaining music
all about product lines. They also wrote "Got To
Investigate Silicones" for GE in '73, General Motor's
1966 show "Diesel Dazzle", the 1965 Seagram's
show, the 1966 American Motors show, the 1970 Dodge show,
2 more shows for GE's Sealants Division only found on
cassette (!!) and a host of others. It was directed by
another industrial show veteran, Julian Stein of "The
Fantasticks" fame. One voice you might recognize
in the chorus is Hal Linden, who did a bunch of industrial
theater in the early 60s. A really fun record.