The Iconic Roto-Rooter Jingle Turns 70

♪ Away Go Troubles Down the Drain ♪ is One of America's Oldest Continuously Used Ad Jingles

CINCINNATI, Oct. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Advertising jingles had their heyday when radio was the dominant entertainment medium between the 1930s and 1950s. Short, catchy tunes paired with memorable lyrics helped familiarize Americans with products such as Bryl Cream's A Little Dab'll Do Ya, Campbell's Soup's Mmm Mmm Good, and GM's See the USA in Your Chevrolet. But while most brands swapped out jingles with each new ad campaign or dropped them altogether, Roto-Rooter stuck with its iconic jingle ever since it was first performed live on Chicago's WLS Radio in 1954 by Captain Stubby and The Buccaneers.  

            Over the years, Roto-Rooter featured its memorable Away Go Troubles Down the Drain jingle in various styles and genres, including country, R&B, and pop versions. Last year, Santa's elves sang the jingle in a new Christmas-themed commercial, and just this month Roto-Rooter unveiled a Halloween ad in which the jingle is sung in a stereotypical vampire accent.

             To commemorate the Roto-Rooter jingle's 70^th anniversary, Roto-Rooter asked its employees and artificial intelligence to perform and create versions of the jingle in the style of disco, reggae, and more. Roto-Rooter is also asking social media musical influencers to reimagine the jingle and reach a younger audience that may not be as familiar as their parents, grandparents who recognize the jingle as a bona fide piece of Americana.

            Roto-Rooter's marketing team believes its jingle was initially successful because the long-form version perfectly described the company's revolutionary sewer and drain cleaning process: "Roto-Rooter is quick first-aid, for clogs, sewers, and stopped-up drains. The wonderful Roto-Rooter machine twists and turns and shaves lines clean. Call Roto-Rooter, that's the name, and away go troubles down the drain – Roto-Rooter! But since the 1960s, the jingle's chorus (♪ Call Roto-Rooter' that's the name, and away go troubles down the drain, Roto-Rooter ♪) has endured as the end tag of most of the company's radio and TV commercials.

Roto-Rooter was established in 1935 and is the largest provider of plumbing repair and sewer and drain cleaning services in the U.S. and Canada. Roto-Rooter is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chemed Corporation and operates businesses in over 130 company-owned territories and over 340 franchise territories operating coast-to-coast.

Contact: Paul Abrams
513-762-6434 (office)
513-702-5631 (mobile)
[email protected]

SOURCE Roto-Rooter