Peace on Earth
A Demo a Day: Day 12.
It’s a new day: a happy group spreads the word of love, peace and harmony.
Is there any more iconic pop ditty from the 1970’s than I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing? The song, and the Hillside TV commercial it was based on (fun fact: it was a Coke jingle first!), with doe-eyed, thick-maned, white turtleneck-clad hippies singing a message of love, are permanently burned into my brain from childhood.
This is the vibe I was tuned into when Peace on Earth sprung out of my brain one day more or less in complete form while thinking about the plot development for Act II. (If memory serves, I wrote the tune start to finish in a couple of hours; the lyrics didn’t take much longer). The second act opens with a host of singers on a hill-- right out of the Hillside commercial, styled similarly-- singing a message of love, hope and a brand new day. It’s a truly joyous song (the only one in the whole opera), though in the context of the plot, the lyrics drip with irony, because everything goes downhill fast and for the remainder of Act II. Musically, it’s straight ahead pop with a catchy melody and beat, majestic rhythm guitars, and electronic keyboards and a horn section evocative of 1970’s jazz-pop groups like Chicago.
LISTEN: