What's The Coors Light Commercial Song & Why Does It Sound So Familiar?
Name a more iconic duo than beer commercials and songs that you're familiar with, but can't quite remember the name of. True to form, Coors Light has debuted a fresh new ad set to a certain popular song with a name that might escape even the most dedicated music fans out there. The spot features a man happily watching a sports game from the comfort of an outdoor lounge as he sips on a Coors Light, deemed "the official beer of not going into the game." As the man relaxes, a song with a smooth yet distinctly Western-esque twang fills the air.
Wonder no longer — the song in question is actually "Lo Chiamavano King (His Name Was King)" by Luis Bacalov, with vocals from Edda Dell'Orso. Since its debut in 1971, the piece has become rather synonymous with the Western genre. Having it pop up in a Coors Light commercial is a bit unexpected, especially when considering the other pieces of media that viewers may have heard it in prior.
Lo Chiamavano King is a Western classic
As it happens, "Lo Chiamavano King (His Name Was King)" was actually created by Luis Bacalov as the main theme for the 1971 Western film of the same name, directed by Giancarlo Romitelli. While the film itself has been somewhat overshadowed by its more well-known contemporaries such as "The Wild Bunch," it's nevertheless a bit of an influential classic itself. Of course, it also birthed a song so deeply associated with the genre that it could be single-handedly used to give a 2023 beer commercial a Western flair.
Romitelli's 1971 film isn't the only Western in which "Lo Chiamavano King" can be heard. In fact, the movie by which most modern audiences likely became familiar with the song came out far more recently. The song was reused for Quentin Tarantino's iconic 2012 Western "Django Unchained," starring Jamie Foxx. It can be heard partway through the movie, as Foxx's Django and Christoph Waltz's Dr. King Schultz travel the country by horse.
"Lo Chiamavano King" has shown up in one more notable place, and while it's in the Western genre, it's not a movie. The song is actually used in the 2004 video game "Red Dead Revolver," the precursor to the more commonly known "Red Dead Redemption" games. An instrumental version of it plays over the game's intro sequences as the characters are introduced.