Considered one of the best jingles of all time, Oscar Mayer’s famous theme song ran in its ads from 1963 to 2010. Executives credited the tune with the national success of the company’s eponymous hot dogs, but when Chicago jingle writer Richard Trentlage came up with it, he wasn’t even working for Oscar Mayer. Trentlage wrote and recorded the four-verse song, using his son and daughter as the talent, in one night for a contest that an ad agency was hosting. He got the idea from his 10-year-old son, who’d once said, “I wish I could be a dirt-bike hot dog.” Trentlage didn’t Ĥnd out he’d won the competition until a year later, but when Oscar Mayer began using the piece, it became a cultural phenomenon, with people even requesting it on the radio. Years later, Trentlage said he’d put his kids through college with the royalties from the song.