The Real Joy of Living Is . . . Beer?

Back in the late 50s, the Schlitz Brewing Co. came up with a slogan insisting that you could "know the real joy of good living" by drinking its beer. A dubious proposition to be sure, but one that was powerful enough to propel to the top of the beer market for some years.

Schlitz's agency turned the slogan into a jingle, as was the practice back then, and then the jingle was turned into a song. Or maybe it was the other way around - I'm not sure. But whether chicken or egg came first, eventually Nelson Riddle got involved and a number of records ensued.

What we have here is a Schlitz promotional EP featuring Riddle, with the commercial jingle and the song, Know the Real Joy of Good Living, featuring chorus. As far as I know, these Riddle arrangements are otherwise unissued. Riddle did include the song on his Capitol LP, the Joy of Living, although in a completely different, instrumental version. The Schlitz EP depicted the cover of the Riddle LP on its back (see below).

The flip side of the EP contained two Riddle instrumentals that are not on the Joy of Living LP. I'm not sure if they were otherwise released, although I would assume they were. The download includes all the material from the promotional EP and the instrumental version from the Joy of Living LP.

One parenthetical note: singing on the commercial is Jamie Silvia, of the J's with Jamie, one of the leading commercial voices of the time. A superb singer, she, her husband Joe and their group first became well known for their commercial work, and then began making records for Columbia in the 1960s. I have an LP they self-issued that is half Columbia material and half commercials. Also in the group was Len Dresslar, who later made many records (and commercials) with the Singers Unlimited.

REMASTERED VERSION