wash my brains with soap
Published 2024-03-06
In 1996 Ravi was approached to record a jingle for Imperial Leather Soaps. At the time Imperial Leather were market leaders (they won the Soapy Suds Award consecutively between 1993 and 1996). By contrast Ravi was a relatively unknown entity. Sure, he was well known in underground circles (in lieu of the fact that he played drums in Sebadoh for two and half weeks), but he certainly wasn’t enjoying anywhere near the level of fame as he does nowadays*.
Grabbing this opportunity with both hands Ravi flew himself to Finland to record the jingle, enlisting Keith Cheesecake (of The Milk Shakey Shakies fame) as writing partner. Nineties-era Cheesecake was an intense man. During the recording sessions he would often pretend to be an actual bar of soap, lying inanimate for hours in the bathtub.
The line, “I don’t think about nothing”, is Cheesecake taking the form of a soap bar. Cheesecake loved to flirt with double negatives. You see, a soap bar isn’t a sentient life form with actual thoughts. It just lies there, not thinking about anything. It does the opposite of not thinking about nothing. Cheesecake loved irony.
Ravi and Cheesecake returned to the UK, tape in hand, ready to take the soap advertising world by storm. But when they returned it became increasingly clear that there was a new soap rising through the foamy ranks. Lynx Africa Shower Gel.
As Imperial Leather began to lose their market share, they had to pull the plug on Ravi’s jingle. Up until now the track has been collecting dust in the Soft Gunge Records archives**. We truly hope you enjoy this gem, and remember, Wash Your Brains With Soap, Wash Your Brains With Imperial Leather***.
*Ravi has an estimated 2.6 million fans worldwide
**access to the archives are available upon request (with guided tours on selected days - please book well in advance to avoid disappointment)
***This was the proposed tag line, which would have been voiced by Nigel Mansell