Maxell – “Israelites” (1990)

One of the funniest British TV adverts of the late 20th century was inspired by one of the dourest rock music icons.

In 1965, Bob Dylan made a promotional film (in London) for his song Subterranean Homesick Blues. He was seen standing in front of the camera holding the lyrics of the song on cue cards. Once each set of words had passed, Dylan threw the card away and showed the next.

Twenty-five years later, ad agency Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury took the idea, married it with Desmond Dekker‘s reggae hit Israelites, and produced a modern classic based on our tendency to mishear pop music lyrics.

Actor Larrington Walker played the part of the dude in the knit cap with the off-the-wall translation. His cue cards bore the lyrics:

“Get up in the mornin
Sleeping for bread sir
Sold out to every monk
And beef-head
oh oh, me ears are alight.
Why find my kids?
They buck up and a-leave me
Darling Cheese Head
I was yards too greasy
Oh oh, me ears are alight”

As the song fades away, Walker’s final cards read: “I think that’s what he says, but I need to hear it on a Maxell”.

The ad was a welcome break from other commercials for high-performance audio cassettes, which tried to impress with a sales pitch and picked up a string of awards. In fact, the spot was so popular that Maxell followed it up with similarly misheard lyrics from The Skids‘ Into The Valley. 

The campaign pushed Maxell from fifth to second place in its market.

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