Althouse: James Taylor sings and comments on the old Chock Full o' Nuts coffee jingle.

March 30, 2024

James Taylor sings and comments on the old Chock Full o' Nuts coffee jingle.

Found this morning while searching, unsuccessfully, for an old Chock Full o' Nuts commercial (the one with the American woman going through French customs ("I have seen this coffee many times, in many suitcases")).

Alternatively, here's an operatic Chock Full o' Nuts commercial from 1991:

22 comments:

RCOCEAN II said...: Althouse's comment section is Chock full of Nuts.

I've never had their coffee, is it an East Coast thing?; 3/30/24, 10:07 AM
tcrosse said...: From Wikipedia:
The Chock full o'Nuts advertising jingle was based on the song, "That Heavenly Feeling", written by Bernie Wayne and Bill Silbert. It was sung by company founder William Black's wife, cabaret singer Page Morton Black; it received extensive airplay on both radio and television in the 1950s and 1960s.[1] The original lyrics:

Chock full o'Nuts is that heavenly coffee,
Heavenly coffee, heavenly coffee.
Chock full o'Nuts is that heavenly coffee,
Better coffee Rockefeller's money can't buy.[9]

The company was compelled to alter the lyrics from "Rockefeller's money" to "a millionaire's money" after being sued by New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, who owned coffee interests in Latin America.[13] Mid-2000s versions of the jingle replace "millionaire" with "billionaire".; 3/30/24, 10:31 AM
Aggie said...: Just what I need, that bald, gangly, nasally bore, pontificating on a 50 year-old advertisement. He peaked at 'Sweet Baby James', which was probably named after him, by him. I'd rather listen to the original ad, over and over. Actually - I'd rather listen to Carly Simon, while looking at her.; 3/30/24, 10:47 AM
Chuck said...: It's my coffee. Totally delicious. My favorite. The interesting thing about the can is that it used to have a black outline of a city -- mostly like a modified Manhattan -- at the bottom of the can, and the now-destroyed twin towers of the World Trade Center were as prominent on the can as they were in reality before 9/11/2001. But even after the terrorist plane crashes, the design quietly persisted for years. For like ten years or more. I recall pointing it out to a Wisconsin business school professor in Madison and she used it in class.; 3/30/24, 10:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I felt inspired to get dressed with the care and subtlety with which he put on that fleece vest.; 3/30/24, 11:08 AM
William said...: I think James Taylor was probably more offended by the Rockefeller suit against Chock Full of Nuts than by, say, Pol Pot's murder of a quarter of his population. That's how their sensibilities function.,....I read the Chernow bio of Rockefeller. Rockefeller taught Sunday school, never cheated on his wife, and made more money than any man alive. He used that money to endow Spelman College. The College was named after his father-in-law who was an abolitionist who managed a stop on the Underground Railroad. Rockefeller also founded some institutions which cured diseases like Yellow and Scarlet Fever and a program that eradicated pinworms in the South.. All in all, a good life. But the man was rich and a Republican and so worthy of the disdain of all refined sensibilities. He is best remembered for his suit against Chock Full of Nuts.; 3/30/24, 11:43 AM
Tank said...: Chock full of nuts coffee is crap, and Sweet Baby James is not about James Taylor. You could look it up.; 3/30/24, 11:50 AM
tim in vermont said...: Say what you will about James Taylor, I don't like his politics, for example, but he has a great voice.; 3/30/24, 12:10 PM
Joe Smith said...: He was a little flat, but then again I didn't pay for a ticket...; 3/30/24, 12:34 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'I felt inspired to get dressed with the care and subtlety with which he put on that fleece vest.'

It's either OCD or narcissism...you choose...; 3/30/24, 12:35 PM
Joe Bar said...: The first concert I went to was James Taylor at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Carly Simon made a surprise appearance. We were also gifted tickets a few years back and saw him here in Richmond. I always enjoyed his music.

Surprised to see he's only 76. Thought he was older.

Never followed his politics, but I always assume anyone famous in the entertainment industries are far left. That type of talent seems to flow that way.; 3/30/24, 1:06 PM
Whiskeybum said...: Growing up in the Midwest, I had never heard of Chock Full O’ Nuts, which was an east coast product, until I read a Mad Magazine spoof which referred to it as Chock Full O’ Nuts & Bolts. Funny that when you learn of something through humor like this, you can never hear the original without thinking of the humorous version.

And “Sweet Baby James” was a lullaby written for JT’s infant nephew, who was named after his uncle.; 3/30/24, 1:31 PM
JAORE said...: Perhaps they could change Rockefeller's money to (his buddy) John Kerry's wife's money.

Result: Happiness in every cup.; 3/30/24, 1:33 PM
Temujin said...: Reading this, I immediately heard a version of the "Chock Full O Nuts" commercial I grew up hearing in Michigan, playing in my head. A woman singing the jingle, "Better coffee a millionaire's money can't buy." Part of the soundtrack of our yoot.; 3/30/24, 2:12 PM
William50 said...: James Taylor, the Perry Como of the 70s; 3/30/24, 2:54 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'James Taylor, the Perry Como of the 70s'

True.; 3/30/24, 3:06 PM
Darkisland said...: I didn't even have to read the post before the first lines of the jingle started coursing through my brain. I probably had not heard it for 50 years.

THAT is one effective jingle.

They used to have a chain of coffee shops. When I was working in a factory on union Square in 66 there was one in the building where I used to get coffee and donuts for breakfast sometimes. Donuts were crunchy and great for dunking in coffee.

Do they still exist?; 3/30/24, 4:07 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Speaking of advertising jingles:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DtzG3JoxVpw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RnU3O6Kjwt8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr7DKXXfCWI

Sadly, now closed. John Sun hung up his egg roll about 3 years ago. Done in by the government's Wuhan flu restrictions.; 3/30/24, 4:44 PM
rehajm said...: JT used to sit by himself in that little Charles St bistro where Cobblestones is now. The last table was in the window but he could sit at the seat at the far end where there was a wall that prevented people on the street from seeing him but he could look out. He would have the Sunday Globe spread out but I don’t remember if there was coffee…; 3/30/24, 4:46 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Speaking of advertising jingles:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DtzG3JoxVpw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RnU3O6Kjwt8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr7DKXXfCWI

Sadly, now closed. John Sun hung up his egg roll about 3 years ago. Done in by the government's Wuhan flu restrictions.; 3/30/24, 4:46 PM
Narr said...: James Taylor was never a fave in my circles.

I don't recall the Chock Full O Nuts ads--might have been a regional thing as someone suggested--but I do recall Keillor's coffee commercials.

Also Bach's Coffee Cantata BWV 211.; 3/30/24, 7:00 PM
Abu Yossi said...: Instant sophistication in a can.; 3/31/24, 4:59 AM