GO COMPARE OVER HERE TO "OVER THERE".

So there you are, having a quiet moment. The radio and the TV are off....and there it is....in your head..."Go Compare, Go Compare".


Voted the most annoying ad in the UK in 2009. If it's not beaten by "ISA, ISA, baby", it will win again in 2010.


If you live in China or someplace then GoCompare is a car insurance comparison web site. The tune and the ad work. Everyone has now forgotten that GoCompare admitted passing on their customer's data in 2007, got blacklisted by Google for a while in 2008 for "irregular inbound links" and got blacklisted again last April.


One of the guy's in one of the ad's says "He's only a tenor".


That's because the singer is in fact a pucker opera star, Welsh tenor Wynne Evans.

What is no surprise is that the song is so successful. Never mind about Michael Jackson and Elvis....this was maybe the most successful American song of the 20th century!


Originally called "Over There" it was written by George M. Cohan in World War 1 and was used as a marching anthem for 4 million US troops. Back in the days before CD's, records, or radio plays, a hit was judged on sheet music sales and it was a monster.





Cohan was a big star of the day. He was an entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer, on both Broadway and in Hollywood. He wrote that other Wearegoingofftowar song "Give My Regards to Broadway" and the patriotic "Yankee Doodle Boy".


Cohan is one of the most honored American entertainers. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented him with The Congressional Gold Medal in 1936 for his musical contribution to World War I morale. Cohan's statue stands in New York's Times square.


It doesn't stop there. In 1942 the song starred in the movie "Yankee Doodle Dandy" along with James Cagney, who won an Oscar.


The film was supposed to be about the life of Cohan....



....but it was pure propaganda. The final scene was American showbiz at it's best.

War has been declared and Cohan(Cagney) is at the White House for a "chat" with the President. He says something like "That's what so great about our country, when an ordinary guy like me can drop in an have a chat with the top man". As Cohan(Cagney) leaves, the Army is marching past singing his song. An old man sees him and he does a double take as he sees the song's writer. Cohan(Cagney)along with the crowd start marching with the soldiers. As he's marching a soldier turns to him and says something like "Why 'aint you singing, don't you know the words"? The film closes with a close up of him marching with the troops, singing his song.


James Cagney gets the Academy award for best actor.....


....and 16 million Americans are wearing uniforms and marching to the song.

You've got to admit, it is catchy.


I prefer Compare the Meerkats.com