Sixteen Going on Seventeen

As anyone who has read this blog regularly for the past few years knows, I enjoy strange cover versions of songs. One of the strangest recent covers of a song emerged from a rather unexpected source: a television commercial. I am sure that most people living in the States have seen the State Farm advert with teenagers visiting the DMV (well, here in Missouri it would be the Department of Revenue, but you know what I am talking about). The song in the background is none other than a cover version of "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" from The Sound of Music. For those of you unfamiliar with the musical, the original song is a duet between Rolf, the young messenger boy, and Liesl, the eldest daughter of the Von Trapps.

For the commercial State Farm utilised the talents of Modern Music. No, Modern Music is not a rock band. They are a music company made up of composers, producers, bands, and so on that specialise in making music for commercials. It was Modern Music who provided the various versions of "Hello, Goodbye" for Target commercials among other bits of music for commercials. In the case of their remake of "Sixteen Going On Seventeen," I think they may have topped everything they have ever done. Indeed, it carries a whole level of sexual menace that I never caught in the original song, perhaps because it is not done as a duet. One voice sings everything, with Liesl's lines suitably rewritten. The complete song is available at State Farm's Better Teen Driving site.

For those of you who don't want to bother going to the State Farm site, below is a mashup video someone did on YouTube featuring the complete song.