There’s this song out there that I’ve been listening to kind of regularly lately. So I was surprised to hear it in a commercial because… it’s old! What do you think about the song in the new Pandora commercial:
The Song. To be clear, this version of the song “To Love Somebody” isn’t old at all. It’s by sister singers Chloe and Halle Bailey who go by the name Chloe x Halle. But go back a few decades for this version from Michael Bolton in the mid-1990s.
Well guess what? We can go back even further than that. Here’s the original from The Bee Gees in the 1960s.
Lyrics Matter, Though. Chloe and Halle can sing. No question! I remember their performance of “America, The Beautiful” a few years back and it’s beautiful. This Pandora commercial is for Valentine’s Day, which we all know, but I’m really miffed that they’d pick a song of which they’d need to change the lyrics to make it fit the ad. No. Just no. Notice how the lyrics were changed in a key way…
From: “You don’t know what it’s like to love somebody the way I love you.”
To: “You must know what it’s like to love somebody the way I love you.”
Changing one word changes the entire tone of the song and unfortunately, the bleeding heart in the early versions is lost in the new version. It’s replaced by lyrics that just don’t draw out any detectable emotions. Pretty visuals, fine idea, but just needed a different song choice. They aren’t doing justice to a song that evokes so much heartache, hope, and love.
-Out of the Wilderness
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Out of the Wilderness 
the alteration to fit the advert must have been done with the last remaining bee gee Barry Gibbs sayso. You can’t alter a living persons lyrics unless they agree. If Barry hadn’t agreed to this I suspect we would have seen a court case on this and the advert pulled. Think it is a lovely advert lovingly done with respect to all the women who appear in it. The song by its self is beautiful. I don’t think that the word change has made the song worse. I just wish it was available as an mp3. The Virgin advert I am what I am was released last year and it was a jazz version. At the end of the song you get about the one minute that was on screen. That was a rip off as Lady Black didn’t need to release this as a terrible jazz number accompanied by piano.
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I find it irritating when classic songs are used in commercials with changed lyrics to fit it to the narrative
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Exactly!!
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Just saw this commercial (on amazon prime video annoyingly enough) and i was trying to find info and found this blog. I concur with the sentiment. That said the commercial is available on YouTube officially.
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thanks for the link! I’ll add this one to the blog since the original is private now.
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The ad is beautiful and emotionally moving…love is love.
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Yes, they did a beautiful job with the song. It is comforting to know that these talented artists can make small twist that enables the song to speak a broader audience. I have never heard any rendition of this song that I did not love. The creativity of each singer is inspiring! I appreciate the diverse versions.
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Your right. No hell no.
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