There are certain things from my childhood that have become inexplicably and inextricably imprinted into my cerebral cortex. I'm not even talking about significant events in my young life, I'm just talking about small things from day-to-day life that have stuck with me over the course of several decades. I'm sure most of us have some of these memories of little things that, whether we like it or not, we will probably never shake.
One such unshakable item from my childhood was a TV commercial for the now-defunct Crocker Bank. The commercial featured a young couple getting married, with a lilting, saccharine, and very catchy tune playing behind the visuals. The tune was 'We've Only Just Begun' and was sung by one of the co-writers of the song, Paul Williams. The song turned out to be Williams' big break - he got a call from Richard Carpenter of 'The Carpenters' fame - he wanted to record the song for the Carpenters upcoming album. Paul Williams went on to have quite a career, and is now enshrined in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also the current president of ASCAP.
So, anyway, as a young boy, every time that ubiquitous commercial would pop onto the screen, I would blanch, and either change the channel (which required actually walking over to the TV and turning the rotary dial - oh, the horror!), or (literally) run out of the room screaming. To make matters worse, several months later, the Carpenters' version was all over the AM radio dial, and Richard and Karen also made frequent TV variety show appearances performing the tune.
Truth be told, even as a kid, I found the commercial touching, and I think that was the main reason I eschewed the commercial and the song, because what 11/12-year-old boy wants to get in touch with those kinds of emotions??!! Fortunately, I have grown up just enough since then to appreciate the sentiments expressed in the ad, and to recognize a well-crafted pop standard when I hear one.
The Crocker Bank ad, Paul Williams on vocals:
And here are the Carpenters (man, do I ever love those 70's variety show set pieces):
