Sky Blue Waters

Picture a scene in the great north. A tubby dancing bear. Beavers. A creek and waterfall. Spruce trees. Beating tom toms. A speck appears on the horizon. Music begins. The speck sways left and right as it rapidly dances into the foreground. It becomes a Hamms Beer bottle while a chorus sings:

(Tom toms beating ...)

From the land of sky blue waters.

(echo) Waters.

Comes the beer refreshing.

(echo) Comes the Beer refreshing.

Hamms.the Beer refreshing.

Hamms Beer.

Hamms.

(Final tom tom riff)

The scene shifts to my grandparents' home on Rich Ave., near the SW corner of the John R. Rogers High School athletic field. Alcohol is a no-no for Nana, my grandmother, a Calvinistic Presbyterian from Boston. My German-born grandfather goes along with her even though beer is probably the Deutshe national drink. Don't get me wrong. She pretty much hung the moon for me. She took the time to teach me incredible things at an early age.

On Rich Avenue, television has come to Nana and Grampa's house in the form of a 17 inch zenith set. I'm there. The tom toms beat. The Hamms bear dances. The beer bottle sways into the foreground from the horizon. Nana exclaims,

"I'm against alcohol consumption, but I have to admit I like that ad a great deal. I like the way that bottle dances into the picture from the horizon."

My jaw drops. My mother's jaw drops. Madison Avenue has snared Nana.

I've learned that the series of commercials was derived from "From The Land of Sky-Blue Water," a 1909 art song. A Nelle Richmond Eberhart wrote the words. Charles Wakefield Cadman penned the music. The commercial began on radio and then moved to television. A long version of the Hamms commercial follows:

(Tom toms beating ...)

From the Land of Sky Blue Waters,

From the land of pines, lofty balsams,

Comes the beer refreshing,

Hamm's the beer refreshing.

Brewed where nature works her wonders,

Aged for many moons, gently mellowed,

Hamm's the beer refreshing,

Hamm's the beer refreshing.

From across the rippling water,

Through the whisp'ring pines and birches,

Comes the beer refreshing,

Hamm's the beer refreshing.

Comes a call to cool enchantment,

Comes a call to cool refreshment,

Hamm's the beer refreshing,

Hamm's the beer refreshing.

Hints of lakes and sunset breezes,

Dance and sparkle in each glassful,

Hamm's the beer refreshing,

Hamm's the beer refreshing.

Hamms.

(Final tom tom riff)

-Ed Mauget