Since you have been so wise ...

Question: Since you have been so wise in answering all the questions about commercial jingles, can you please answer this one? The jingle goes, "Thank you very much, thank you very much, that's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me." I know I have heard this before. Does it come on every holiday season, or is it from a song? I need to find a way to get it out of my head!

Answer: Well, I can tell you where it's from, but you're on your own in trying to get it out of your head, Jaime.

Though many people will tell you the maddeningly catchy tune "Thank You Very Much," used in an ad for the Volkswagen Passat, is from the musical Oliver!, they've got the wrong Dickens classic. (I suspect they may be mixing it up with "Consider Yourself," which is from that work.) It's actually from the 1970 musical-film version of Scrooge and was nominated for an Oscar for best song. In a morbid use notably different from how the song plays in the Passat ad, Scrooge (Albert Finney) is shown a vision of his future, when everyone who owed him money sings to his coffin about how grateful they are for his being kind enough to drop dead.

And I'll give the Volkswagen ad folks this: I get far more questions about their commercials than those for any other brand or product.