Listen to The New Seekers’ ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’ from 9-1-1: Lone Star S4 E11 as Miss Mooney picks oranges

The Fox procedural drama 9-1-1: Lone Star was back on TV last night with one of my favorite songs from my childhood on its soundtrack — The New Seekers’ ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)‘, which showed up on 9-1-1: Lone Star, Season 4, Episode 11, “Double Trouble“.

That song was playing as Miss Mooney goes to pick oranges in her back yard, climbs up a ladder and then sees the head of her garden gnome get knocked off by a ball thrown by the boys next door.

The British pop group The New Seekers’ ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing‘ started out its life in a rather unusual way, first being written as the jingle for a Coca-Cola commercial “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke“.

That commercial was also performed by The New Seekers.

The Coke commercial became such a huge hit the song was then rewritten to add several choruses and be released as a full-length single.

Interestingly, ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)‘ was recorded and released by both The New Seekers and the American group The Hillside Singers, with both groups getting hit singles out of the deal.

The New Seekers version of the song though was the one that hit the #1 spot in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Japan, as well as #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

As a then child, I apparently liked the song so much, I saved up my hard-earned pocket money (yes, I did chores) and bought the upbeat track on a 45RPM single. A single I still own to this day.

Listen to The New Seekers’ ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing‘ as heard on 9-1-1: Lone Star last night on the Spotify player, and in the video featuring a live performance of the song.

 

About Michelle Topham

I'm a Brit-American journalist, former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I'm also obsessed with music, anime, manga, and K-dramas. Help!