give me a break
[Music]
that's right a KitKat bar but this isn't
about the KitKat itself this is a story
about the KitKat jingle and how it was
never supposed to exist
[Music]
my name is Michael Levine I'm a composer
and songwriter I have been writing songs
for 56 years now
scored a show called Cold Case I wrote a
jingle for Kool-Aid that ran for many
years
but what everybody knows is the KitKat
gimme a Break jingle
I got a call from an agency handling the
KitKat account they had a campaign they
already loved and they just needed a
throwaway song something for the client
to say no to you can't present your
client with one idea you have to have
something that they're going to buy and
something they can throw away so this
was the throwaway song
I came into a meeting with Ken schuldman
who was the writer for the agency and he
gave me a couple of sheets of possible
lyric ideas and we agreed on give me a
break give me a break break me off a
piece of that KitKat bar I got in the
elevator on the third floor and by the
time I got to the first floor it was
written
I had a very tiny budget for the whole
thing I literally couldn't afford to
hire singers so when we went to do the
actual commercial Chris the producer
said well why don't we have the Band
sing it
we did the vocal in one take and the
instrumental also in one take but on the
bridge of the song which originally went
you could keep it to yourself but it
wouldn't be fair cause that chocolate
crispy taste is loved everywhere that
was a single Voice singing and that was
me I ended up being the lead vocalist as
a result
[Music]
at that point the agency put both
campaigns with test audiences and give
me a break ended up being much preferred
by people
it did so well they didn't quite believe
the results so they tested it again
and it did better at that point they
decided to go with it I was delighted
that they picked it I didn't have an
inkling that it would still be here 30
years later I was told that Hershey's
had to build a new KitKat Factory to
accommodate the demand
[Music]
over the years as it's become part of
the American subconscious I'm proud to
have contributed to that and I'm
delighted by all of the new versions
that come out mostly people make jokes
about it they're like oh come on Michael
give me a break almost everybody thinks
they're being really clever when they
ask me to give them a break
foreign
[Music]