Enter Tony Asher. Born in England at the start of the Second World War, he moved with his mother to her native California when he was just an infant. He had a pretty normal upbringing and was smart and lucky enough to get to attend university at a time when not many people had that privilege. He earned a degree and then went into advertising, a growth industry during an era in which television was becoming increasingly prominent. Then, in his mid-twenties, he met Brian Wilson and suddenly found himself in the inner circle of The Beach Boys as the lyricist of their most celebrated album release, Pet Sounds.
The use of an advertising copywriter to play a crucial role in the pop song composition process was not hidden from the public at the time. If anything, it was celebrated and this has only grown as more and more critics and fans grew to appreciate such a monumental album. (In the 2004 book Kill Your Idols, music writer Jeff Nordstedt describes this arrangement as "bizarre", considering it to be something which "offends every notion of truth that I hold dear about rock 'n' roll" which seems like an overstatement if you ask me) Among its many innovations, Pet Sounds married pop and advertising. But was this really such a novelty? Didn't the music industry and advertising share a great deal more in common back in those days then people may have assumed?
The English duo of Roger Cook and Roger Greenway had both been accomplished singers who would soon form a duo of their own known as Jonathon and David (Roger and Roger plainly wasn't good enough). They'll be coming up in this space before long but their real forte was in songwriting. While many rock-era compositional duos stuck to a formula, they had a facility with all sorts of genres. (I used to always think that "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", a single they gave to Gene Pitney, was actually a Bachrach-David number) There were only two things that seemed to matter: their songs were catchy and you'd easily remember them. (To be fair, Cook and Greenway didn't become associated with advertising jingles until "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" became an entrenched part of the Coca-Cola brand and that admittedly very big advert was almost a one off for them)
What's amazing about "You've Got Your Troubles" is that it could come straight out of a silly TV commercial. (Picture it: a dual-income couple coming home from work only for both of them getting their nice clothes dirty — him from spilling spaghetti sauce all over his favourite shirt (the klutzy old fart!), her from an ink stain on her best blouse; they both dash to the washing machine only to discover that their twin laundry emergencies are hampered by a reluctance to wash two separate colours in the same load; but, hark!, here comes Douse to save the day! — Don't discriminate, mix your clothes with Douse!; "you've got your troubles, I've got mine"...I really did miss my calling as a high-powered advertising exec) While Wilson and Asher pulled off the impressive feat of having the songs on Pet Sounds become an advertisement for longing and teen heartbreak, I can't quite escape the feeling that I'm being so something else when it comes to "You've Got Your Troubles".
Nice as it is, maybe that's why I can't quite take it seriously. Cook and Greenway composed a very sturdy number with "You've Got Your Troubles" and The Fortunes (oh yes, the band that actually recorded it, I really should have got round to bringing them up for a bit, shouldn't I?) do what they're supposed to do. It's a pretty good song, one that I have had no trouble forgetting — so well done to all concerned. I admire the craft and find the song itself to be a perfectly hummable earworm but there's little need to go any further. Like most TV jingles, good or bad, this is the kind of thing that can be dispensed with little trouble.
Score: 6
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