A “good” jingle is maddeningly inescapable, and therein lies the paradox. Through devious feats of verbal repetition and vague familiarity, jingle writers aren’t so much crafting songs but subliminal nuggets of instant indoctrination. You may not like it, but that’s hardly the point. So long as you find yourself unknowingly humming “ba da da da da, I’m lovin’ it!” and “upset stomach, diarrhea…” (you know the rest) while going about your daily business, well, the jingle writer’s done his job.

But who are these shadowy figures sculpting our consumeristic war cries? And how exactly do these nagging memes take shape? We didn’t know either, until we tracked down the perfect source for securing these and other much needed answers. Meet Jimmy Harned, the man behind the most notorious jingle in recent memory: FIVE DOLLAR FOOTLONG. And just in case you need a refresher, here we go:

Harned works for Tonefarmer, an NYC-based music and sound design firm (and EF kindred spirit based on the name) whose clients include everyone from ESPN to Geico (and of course Subway). He was gracious enough to chat via email just before the holidays and shed some much-needed light on the dark art of jingle-writing. Ear worms await….

EF: How did the Subway campaign initially come about? Did they come to Tonefarmer with the idea that they wanted a jingle?

JH: The guys at the agency, MMB in Boston, came to us with the concept. The idea was to convey as simply as possible the “five dollar footlong” phrase so that it would go with the hand motions of the actors. We had some timing constraints in the layout, but other than that we had free reign.

EF: How do you feel about the monumental success of this campaign? Did you have any idea it would become so ubiquitous?

JH: I had no clue that FDFL would spark like it has. It started getting weird when my nieces and nephews in California and Chicago told me about their classmates singing it “all the time” last summer. I like the YouTube death metal solo guitar version, and I’m a huge fan of the guy who customized my track into Guitar Hero, and posted a video of him playing it on Wii (ed note: we couldn’t find this one on YouTube, let us know if you come across it).

EF: I’m curious about the writing process. I read that Tonefarmer submitted many different jingles for consideration. Is this something where everyone within your office submitted jingles and yours won out or did you write several of them?

JH: The writing process is generally competitive. You’re either competing with the writers from another music house and their efforts or you’re competing against the guys in your own shop. In this case I just wrote one track, but as a house we gave the agency seven or eight really strong contenders.

EF: Which one was your favorite that didn’t make it?

JH: Casey Smith wrote a track that sounded like Ween playing Pet Sounds, a truly brilliant execution. It went down to the wire with his and mine in the final round.

EF: How do you find inspiration when writing about a product?

JH: If you’re writing a song where you have to actually sing the product name, you have to do it in a way that doesn’t inspire people to kill you. A little bit of irony, whether in tone or delivery, can go a long way. As far as inspiration goes, the product is probably not going to get you there. You have to find what you want the take away feeling to be, and try your hardest to stay true to that kernel.

EF: Are there any other jingles you’ve done that we may recognize?

JH: I wrote a track with The Bad Eliots last Spring, that made it onto a Snapple Antioxidant Water spot (see below). The song is called “Cat’s Meow” and it generated a ton of interest on “the youtube”. I also wrote a track for the American Heart Association called “This is the Day”. Unlike Subway, they weren’t designed to be jingles in the strict sense. The “Cat’s Meow” track was an album track that just happened to work great with the Snapple spot. The AHA track was in that middle ground, where you’re singing a specific message “this is the day” (to take care of your heart), but no product name was actually sung.

Snapple Antioxidant ad featuring The Bad Eliots’ “Cat’s Meow” (above)

EF: Off the top of your head, how long did it take to write the 5-dollar footlong jingle? Did you perform on the final version that we hear on TV?

JH: Five dollar footlong took about 4 hours to write, sing, play, and mix. I sang the lead and played all the instruments, and the other Farmers sang the backing parts.

EF: Tell us about your musical background. Your bio on the Tonefarmer site mentions stints playing music in bands everywhere from Ghana and Zimbabwe to San Francisco?

JH: Growing up, I always played music and wrote songs, at least from the age of about 9 or ten. Battle of the Bands and little tours in High School gave way to funk bands and the West African Drumming and Dance program at Wesleyan which turned me on to so many great African guitar players and styles that I had to go meet some of them in person. (Specifically for me the palm-wine players in Ghana, and Thomas Mapfumo’s mbira rock in Zimbabwe).

EF: Do you still play in any bands?

JH: I don’t do a lot of performing anymore, but I do write a lot of songs. There is a record or two in my head - and in my notebook - that will find its way out into the ether.

EF: With advertising’s increasing reliance on using pre-existing songs, is the craft of jingle writing endangered?

JH: I think reports about the demise of the jingle are premature. Using a preexisting song for a commercial is easy, expensive usually, and it may or may not do the best job of enhancing the message of a spot. Just do an iTunes search and call the band’s label. Or you can take a chance, find a composer who can write an ear worm with the actual product name in it, and buy enough airtime to let it all sink in. I think there are plenty of advertisers out there who might prefer the latter.

front image found HERE, top image found HERE