Jake Holmes (born December 28, 1939 in San Francisco, California) is an American folk-rock singer/songwriter of the late 1960s.
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Dazed and Confused
Holmes is perhaps best known for writing "Dazed and Confused," which was later adopted and popularized by Jimmy Page of The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. The song appeared on Holmes' debut, "The Above Ground Sound" of Jake Holmes. Led Zeppelin does not credit Holmes with authorship of their song. It is still not widely recognized that Holmes was the author of the classic song. Page, while on tour with the Yardbirds in 1967, saw Holmes perform the song in Greenwich Village [1]. Within months, he had adapted the song for that group, and later, for Led Zeppelin. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Page claimed sole songwriting credit for the song when it appeared on Led Zeppelin's debut album. Holmes later sent Page an unanswered letter about the songwriting credits. He declined to take legal action.
Music Career
Holmes' first musical foray was with his wife Katherine in the folk rock parody duo, Allen & Grier. Holmes later collaborated with Bob Gaudio on The Four Seasons' Genuine Imitation Life Gazette album, after which the pair went on to compose Frank Sinatra's Watertown album. In the 1970s, Holmes moved into writing advertising jingles. He is the composer of the popular "Be All You Can Be" slogan and jingle for the US Army. He also wrote "Be A Pepper" (1977) for Dr Pepper. In spite of the fact that his name is not known, Holmes might be at the top of the list of American singer songwriters because of his work with jingles. Not only are his lyrics famous and remembered, his voice has been heard millions of times on those countless commercials for Gillette, DeBeers, Winn-Dixie and Sears.
Jingles Composed and/or sung (co-authors, date)
- “Be a Pepper” for Dr Pepper (Randy Newman & Jake Holmes, 1977)
- “We fly the world” for Pan American World Airways (DATE)
- “Aren't You Hungry For Burger King Now?” (1981)
- “Raise your hand if you’re sure” for Sure deodorant (DATE)
- “America's Getting Into Training” for Amtrak (1981)
- “Be all that you can be” for U.S. Army (19XX)
- “Best a Man Can Get” for Gillette (199X)
- "Come see the softer side of Sears" (19XX)
- “When we say less is more, we mean less is more!” Charmin (200X)
