TIME(S) OF YOUR LIFE: How Paul Anka’s Kodak Jingle Sabotaged My Garage Day

My garage filled with artifacts, memorabilia, and castoffs; what any fan of the TV show “Hoarders” would call simply “junk.”

Ihad finally steeled myself to face a task I’d skillfully avoided for years — clearing out the detritus and bric-a-brac of a lifetime. For some, that could mean the attic, rife with boxes festooned with cobwebs and dust. For others, a storage unit, situated miles from home and thus so much easier to ignore.

For me, it’s the garage. I step out into the expansive 3-car garage that had seemed such a boon when we moved in 20 years ago, but whose vastness now only multiplies the angst of confronting a massive collection of objects, artifact and compost of the past. What any loyal fan of the “Hoarders” tv show would call “junk.”

I didn’t get very far. Right off the bat I come across a box clearly intended as a “keeper.” About a dozen old cameras gathered over the years from my sister, brothers, and parents. In times past, no self-respecting family would have been without them — the Brownies, the Hawkeyes, even a Kodak Boy Scout reflex model. And the first “instant” camera — the Polaroid “Land” Camera, named after its inventor, Edwin H. Land though, as kids, we thought there must be another Polaroid model specifically for use on water. Maybe for boating or for the beach?

The Polaroid “Land” Camera was the first “instant” camera, but you had to peel your finished photo out of the back.

But among the rusting metal and clouded lens before me, something else stirs in my memory. Of all things, a song…

“Good morning, yesterday,

You wake up, and time has slipped away.

And suddenly it’s hard to find

The memories you left behind.

Remember? Do you remember?”

Well, do you remember?

The song that suddenly plays in my head is from a tv commercial jingle for Kodak cameras sung by then-pop crooner, Paul Anka. If you’re of a certain age, the song is probably also indelibly inscribed in your consciousness. We know who we are.

TVs in the 70’s were living-room-wide and more mahogany and cherrywood than actual TV screen.

The commercial and the song go back a few years, ok, a few decades, to 1975. The tv comes on and, if you’re like my family, it’s one of those living-room-wide console models with more mahogany and cherrywood than actual tv screen. In the initial version, Anka’s song plays over a series of shots — lovers embracing on the beach; families celebrating in their backyard. Weddings, birthdays, first bicycle ride:

“The laughter and the tears,

The shadows of misty yesteryears,

The good times and the bad you’ve seen,

And all the others in between —

Remember?

Do you remember the times of your life?”

The commercial and the song were a marketing gambit, pure and simple, by Kodak for its cameras and films. There were several versions of the Kodak ad throughout the years (you can see a Christmas version here; skip the opening message).

But it was more than just a commercial. The song asks a question…”do you remember?”

As I sit in my garage surrounded by these derelict metal hulks that were once indispensable for capturing the memories referred to in the song, a new question arises — how is it that a half-century-old commercial jingle retains such emotional power that it can completely derail my day of garage cleaning?

From left, George Eastman and Thomas Edison demonstrating the motion picture camera.

“As Convenient as the Pencil”

The answer beckons us back over a century, to a bank teller by the name of George Eastman…

In the 1880’s, the process of photography, which had just been invented was tremendously complex. The exposure was initially on a glass “wet plate” covered in volatile chemicals that had to be used immediately. Development of the exposed plate into anything resembling an image was even more complicated, requiring a darkroom and printing onto a special photographic glass with more chemicals.

George Eastman was driven to simplify all that. In 1881, he left his bank clerk position, obsessed with finding a way to take photography out of its complicated mechanical and chemical processes and take it mainstream to the masses.

In his words, Eastman wanted to make photography “as convenient as the pencil." He began by inventing a “dry plate” process so that the exposure could be done at will rather than having to rush before all the chemicals dried up. Next he invented a “flexible plate” process which resulted in something that could be rolled up and stuck in a camera. And for the first time the word “film” entered the lexicon of photography.

The first Kodak was a simple black box pre-loaded with 100 exposures. After shooting all your photos, you return the camera to Kodak for processing.

By 1888, Eastman’s new company, Kodak, was ready to introduce a radical new idea in photography: Kodak would sell you a pre-loaded camera, cheap, and after you had exposed the hundred negatives, you simply sent the camera back to Kodak who would process and print your pictures and return them to you along with a new, freshly loaded camera.

It was an ingenious technological and marketing breakthrough. Kodak’s slogan said it all: “You press the button. We do the rest.”

The Kodak created a phenomenon. People eventually stopped calling it a “Kodak camera.” It was simply, the “Kodak.” And by 1898 George Eastman had sold 1.5 million Kodaks to, well, almost everybody.

An ad for The Kodak Camera, a revolutionary breakthrough allowing anyone to take photos and have them developed by Kodak.

George Eastman may have been selling cameras and film. But what he was really marketing to us were our own emotions.

The simple box-like Kodak could, with the right lighting, deliver stunning images of a moment, a face, a gesture, a smile. Frozen in time, never to age. To be viewed years hence with all the emotions we are capable of, despite all that had transpired in our lives since a flashcube or a sun-gun had emblazoned sheer magic onto celluloid film.

By the 1970’s, TV advertising was also hitting its stride, and Eastman’s famous progeny, Kodak, was looking for a way to further cement the Kodak into the consciousness of America. And the “Times of Your Life” commercial was born.

A Kodak commercial introduced a new song, “Times Of Your Life” sung by Paul Anka, which took on a life of its own.

DEPOSITING MEMORIES

In the bridge of the jingle, Anka further cements Kodak’s emotional message:

“Reach back to all the joy and sorrow,

Put them away in your mind.

For memories are time that you borrow

To spend when you get to tomorrow.”

Maybe it was a throwback to Eastman’s earlier career as a banker, but I’m sure that the idea of banking memories for later enjoyment — with no interest or carrying charges! — would likely have tickled Eastman (he passed away in 1932).

Over the years, the song has been criticized by some for its singsongy triteness. And for the blatant plagiarizing in the last verse of a line of poetry, “Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may,” from Robert Herrick’s famous 1648 poem.

Despite such quibbles, the commercial with its song-delivered message was incredibly effective at rallying the public again around the Kodak, as the primary mode of capturing family moments, personal moments, even private ones and making of them what came to be known as, wait for it…

Photography for $200, Alex!

What is a “Kodak Moment”?

Kodachrome and Ektachrome transparent slides became popular for families documenting their vacations or even transforming ordinary events into unforgettable memories.

Anka’s song actually came first, in 1975; later in the 80’s came the catchy slogan, of capturing a priceless photo of an event or occasion as, a “Kodak Moment.” But in the consciousness of a receptive public the two eventually became intertwined.

“Times Of Our Lives.”

Such a simple phrase that you think you’ve heard all your life. As in, “we had the time of our lives,” in Puerto Rico, or at Disneyland or any fanciful place, exotic or mundane. The point was the exuberation shared and remembered.

Have you really always heard it? Think about it…

There is actually no clear lineage by which to trace the idiom “having the time of your life.” Ok, Ecclesiastes, if we go back far enough: “A time to sow and a time to reap.”

Later variations exist. In 1817, Sir Walter Scott coined the seminal version, “having a good time,” in his novel “Rob Roy.” William Saroyan referenced the phrase for his 1939 play, “The Time of Your Life.”

But the song’s title, “Times of Your Life,” is actually a clever variation of the common phrase. The lyric moves the ‘s’ from “lives” to "times.” So, it’s not “the time of your lives” but “the times of your life.”

And with that small change, an historic and moving testament, and replacement, for the word “snapshot” (a term first used in the 1800's!) was born. And with it, an iconic piece of advertising art and cultural meme, before there was a term for such things.

In 1975, Paul Anka’s “Times Of Your Life” was #7 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

CHARTING THE SONG

The commercial with Anka’s song began to play on tv screens in 1975. And play and play again. Soon the commercial was getting so much airplay that Anka decided to release the song as a single. “Times of Your Life” debuted at №57 on Billboard’s Hot Top 100 and made it all the way up to №7, remaining on the chart for a solid 20 weeks. Curiously the song was also an early crossover hit, hitting №1 on the “Easy Listening” chart for one week, the only Paul Anka recording ever to do so (more on this interesting fact later).

But wait. Did I imply that Paul Anka wrote “Times of Your Life”? I misspoke…

The song was actually written by Bill Lane and Roger Nichols for J. Walter Thompson, the famous ad agency that represented Kodak, and is referenced fictionally in the tv series “Mad Men.” So, why is Anka historically given credit for “Times Of Your Life”? It’s not an accident. Nowadays, it would be called "personal brand marketing,” something of which Paul Anka was and is a master.

“Times Of Your Life” features music by Roger Nichols and lyrics by Bill Lane, though Paul Anka is often given credit for composing the hit song.

It should be clear by now that “Times of Your Life” can no more be referred to as simply a “jingle," any more than Paul Anka can be referred to as simple a “vocalist.”

In fact, Paul Anka is a bit of an anomaly in entertainment. A chameleon. A teen idol? A bobby soxer? Sure. But one who went on —

• to fashion a farewell song for perhaps the greatest entertainer of our time, and:
• to write posthumous hits, not one but three, for arguably the second greatest entertainer of our time.

All this in addition to his own multifaceted career as a singer, artist, actor, performer and impresario.

In his early years as a teen star, Paul Anka charted an impressive list of hit songs, including “Diana”, “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” and “Puppy Love.”

WHO REALLY IS PAUL ANKA?

Anka was born in 1941 in Toronto, Ontario Canada (he became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1990). As a teen, he sang with an orthodox cathedral choir and was part of a vocal trio called, prophetically, “The Bobby Soxers,” at Fisher Park High in Toronto.

With his father’s permission, and cash saved up from his paper route, young Paul struck out for New York, taking his songs to ABC-Paramount, a then-rising music label receptive to submissions for the new teen market. The first of Anka’s self-written records was “Diana” (“Oh, please, stay by me, Diana…”). It quickly became the №1 song on Billboard charts. Other self-written hits quickly followed — among them “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and “Puppy Love”, all hitting the top of the charts.

While continuing to write and record his own hit songs, Anka developed a knack for writing hits for other singers. His placements have become part of show business legend — starting with Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” and "Teddy” for Connie Francis. Anka’s “She’s a Lady” became Tom Jones first №1 hit in America.

In 1969, a soon-to-retire fellow vocalist asked Anka to write him a “farewell song,” to sum up one of the great careers in show business. Many believe that Paul Anka fashioned the resulting song for Frank Sinatra out of whole cloth. But remember it’s Anka, so perception and reality may be somewhat obscured.

In later years, Paul Anka was a great admirer of legendary Frank Sinatra, so he considered it an honor to fashion a “farewell song” for Sinatra — “My Way.”

It was while in France that Anka heard an existing French song, “Comme d’habitude” and, after acquiring the English rights, Anka revised the lyrics as “My Way.” The hit song revived Sinatra’s career to such an extent that, after flirting with retirement in the 70’s, Sinatra ended up never retiring at all, up to his passing in 1998.

On another occasion, Anka bumped into an old friend soon to start a new late night talk show and in need of a musical theme for his show. Paul Anka’s theme for “The Tonight Show” reportedly earned the Paul Anka-Johnny Carson collaboration $400 every time the show aired, totaling somewhere in the $3-4 million range over the show’s 30-year run.

Perhaps most surprising is Anka’s little-known collaborations with Michael Jackson. “This Is It,” the song which became the title of Jackson’s proposed final tour prior to his death in 2009, was a Paul Anka collaboration.

Other Anka-Jackson collaborations have been released over the years: a remix of “Love Never Felt So Good,” joining Jackson’s original vocal as a duet with Justin Timberlake. And Anka’s earlier hit for Buddy Holly, “It Don’t Matter to Me,” was remixed as a Jackson-Drake duet. Both were posthumous hits for Jackson in 2014 and 2018.

After his recording success, Anka naturally turned to acting, most notably in “The Longest Day.” Not content to simply appear in a cameo, Anka also wrote the title theme for the film. You can still catch him as a guest star on tv shows such as "The Gilmore Girls,” “The Simpsons,” “That 70’s Show,” and “Las Vegas,” on the latter show playing, who else? Paul Anka (you were expecting Wayne Newton?).

Paul Anka was the first pop singer to headline in Las Vegas where he became a regular performer. As an actor, he appeared on numerous tv shows, including “Vegas”, playing himself.

Speaking of Las Vegas, at 15 Anka became the youngest pop star to perform as a headliner at a Las Vegas casino, a record that still stands today (Taylor Swift was a seasoned 23 in her 2012 Las Vegas debut).

And “Times of Your Life” is still a perennial request performance for Anka in Vegas and his other performances, where audience members undoubtedly pull out their iPhone and snap their own “Kodak Moments” of the superstar on stage.

Dark clouds over Kodak in 2012, as the company that established photography as available to everyone, files for bankruptcy.

“And Now The End Is Near…”

Few songs, let alone commercial jingles, have had the staying power of “Times Of Your Life.” It has outlived much of the music of its era. And it has outlived more than music…

On January 10, 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy. The company that had commissioned the memorable commercial spot was no more.

From its peak in 1997, when Kodak had a market value of $30 billion, with annual sales of $10 billion, Kodak’s demise was surprisingly swift, as the company was leapfrogged by competitors Canon, Fuji, Sony and Nikon.

The story of Kodak’s demise is generally attributed to the advent of digital photography, but few recall that in 1975 (the same year that “Times of Your Life” was burning up the pop charts), Kodak was busily developing the very first digital camera. It was the size of a small microwave (which wouldn’t become a fixture in American households until the late ‘70’s). During bankruptcy, Kodak’s hundreds of original patents dating back to the infancy of digital imaging were dispersed to various creditors and stakeholders.

According to observers, Kodak’s repeated attempts to bring back the camera in a world increasingly filled with phones-that-had-a-camera-built-in was its downfall. The company that, more than any other, appealed to the memories of its users, was undone by memories of its own halcyon past.

Perhaps Dr. Seuss best summed up the “Kodak Moment” and the demise of the company itself:

Dr. Seuss was echoing the Kodak slogan when he said, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”

Or as George Eastman would have put it, “until it becomes a photograph.”

THE SONG LIVES ON

Kodak is gone, but “Times of Your Life,” the song that gave Kodak its greatest visibility in the American consciousness, plays on.

Though always associated primarily with Anka, the song has been recorded by a wide range of other singers over the years. It was used in a commercial for Downy in 2021, and the next year in the Apple+ TV series “Severance.”

Appropriately enough, Anka’s version was used in promos for the final season of “Mad Men” on AMC. And why not? It was the advertising world of the 60’s that gave birth to the song in the first place.

SHIFTING MUSICAL TASTES

Paul Anka at 83 is still an active and vital contributor to today’s music scene. Anka’s hits as an artist and as a songwriter bridge many diverse categories including Jazz, Rhythm & Blues and Hip Hop. Anka was even in season four of "The Masked Singer” as a “broccoli,” finishing 7th in the “C” group.

Like I said, a chameleon.

But if you’ll recall earlier I noted that at the time of its release, “Times of Your Life” placed №1 on the “Easy Listening” Chart, Anka’s only appearance in the category. And for a curious reason — “Easy Listening” was retired by Billboard as a category in 1979 replaced by “Adult Contemporary” which continues today.

Why the change? In a word, “demographics.” It was in the 70’s that the storied wave of Baby Boomers began to follow the beat of newer musical styles as they were reaching full adulthood, falling in love, marrying, starting families — and yes, buying Kodak cameras to chronicle their own “Kodak Moments” of their changing lives.

In fact, I would bet the entire contents of my garage that, for Baby Boomers (guilty as charged), Anka’s “Times of Your Life” will be on permanent rotation in our internal playlist for the rest of the times of our lives.

My family’s cameras, that recorded the times of our family’s life, assembled for one last “Kodak Moment” before shipping off to an online trading store.

Meanwhile back in the garage, I’m coming to terms with my dilemma over the cameras. On a whim, I pull out my iPhone and do a quick search. Turns out there is an online company where you can post old camera gear for an immediate cash bid. The Hawkeye will bring seven dollars. The Polaroid brings a similar offer. But the Bolex 16mm movie camera touts an impressive return of fifty-seven dollars. Not bad for relics that were thisclose to being dropped off at Goodwill Industries.

As I box them up for shipment, the final verse of Anka’s song echoes in my mind:

“Here comes the setting sun.

The season are passing, one by one.

So, gather moments while you may,

Collect the dreams you dreamed today.

Remember, will you remember?

The times of your life.”

As it happens, my iPhone, which replaced all these cameras, was instrumental in finding them a new home. And also allowed me to snap one last “Kodak moment” of each one. A photographic memento of a photographic artifact.

Now, it’s time for me to move on to the next box of memories.

Kirby Timmons writes on Entertainment, Psychology, Organizational Science and History. His television screenplays have aired on all three major networks.