BC Clark Jingle Stories

Every year on Thanksgiving Day, the BC Clark Anniversary Sale Jingle bursts into the homes and hearts of anxious Oklahomans, kicking off the biggest jewelry and fine giftware sale of the year. But over time, The Jingle has come to represent something else, too. For many Oklahomans, near and far, it signals the start of the Christmas season with a familiar and joyful tune known around the world.

In the 50-plus years since The Jingle first chimed over Oklahoma’s airwaves, many memories have been made, and the stories have been told. Not a year has gone by that we haven’t received numerous letters and emails from people telling us how The Jingle has touched their lives. Some stories are old, and some are new. Some tug at the heart, while some bring about smiles and laughter. All are a treasure for their keeper and BC Clark, too.

We’d like to know if you have any memories about The Jingle you’d like to share!

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Mama it’s almost Christmas!

I was born and raised in wonderful Oklahoma City, where you meet no strangers! The BC Clark Jingle means everything to me. It was magical, and you could hear the Spirit of Christmas in the air every time you heard the song! My mom made our home something magical -...

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BC Clark Day

Growing up in Norman, we knew that it was Christmas time when we heard BC Clark's jingle. The ad was cute and even though it's older than me, it filled our house with joy. As an adult who has since moved away, the day after Thanksgiving is our Official BC Clark Day...

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The Whistler

One year I was in Tracy, CA at Christmas time. I had gone to one of the local stores with my cousin, and while we were shopping, I began to hear someone whistling. Imagine my surprise when I realized the tune was the B.C. Clark Jingle. I followed the whistle until I...

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I Guess We’re Locals Now

We moved to OK in October of 2011. We might have heard the jingle a couple of times on the radio when it started up that year but it didn't really register as anything other than another commercial. And then... Our oldest daughter was in choir at Moore High School. At...

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Baby’s first Jingle

My son was born on September 18th 2018. It was our second night home and my little man was inconsolable. I was pacing around our house, trying to calm him. I decided to sing to him but only one song came to mind. So there I was in a panic, bouncing with a baby in the...

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5 Generations of the Jingle

In 1956, I modeled children’s clothing downtown at John A. Brown’s and my grandmother worked at Kerr’s across the street. When I was done with my shift, my grandmother would pick me up and we would go to B.C. Clark’s downtown to shop. Mr. Clark Sr.  would greet us and...

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A Class Learning Experience

I used the BC Clark Jingle as an example in one of my undergrad classes to demonstrate how well jingles work with recalling company names. I started by asking if anyone was from the OKC television market, then I asked one of those people to say the next line after I...

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I Grew Up With the Jingle Thousands of Miles Away

My parents were from Oklahoma but soon after I was born they moved to New England. I grew up there but my parents love to sing and every time "anniversary" or "sale" was uttered my parents broke into the B.C. Clark jingle. The first time I heard the actual version...

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A Jingle Greeting Card Surprise

My friend from college, also named Jessica, and I have a tradition every year to see who hears the jingle first. We say Christmas doesn't start until we hear it. So there's always a text from one to the other: "It's officially Christmas!" She lived in Houston for a...

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A Signal of the Season

Born and raised in Ponca City, the BC Clark jingle always signaled the beginning of the Christmas season for our family. We wouldn't set the tree or drag out the decorations until the jingle signaled us to do so. This is a tradition that still lives on to this day....

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A Festive Mood For All

In 2009 I moved to Galveston, Texas. Several months later, around the end of November, I started to feel homesick for Oklahoma. I loved living in Galveston and my new job, but I felt like I was really missing something. My cousin caught my sad little homesick post on...

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A Tearful Homecoming

I grew up in Enid and we always knew it was officially Christmas season when the BC Clark jingle would play on TV. In 2002 my family moved to Washington DC and the first Christmas was very difficult...until one of my friends taped the jingle and sent it to me. We...

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Sing It, and They Will Come

Most of us walk around with some tune or another stuck in our heads. For me, the last few days it has been the B.C. Clark jingle. Which drove me to the website and reading the history of it. Which got me to thinking about how, over the years and for us OKC natives, it...

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Julie Is the Gift to Give…?

Yes, I have a friend named Julie. Bless her heart! The first time she heard your jingle, back in 1980 she thought you were singing to HER! "Julie is the gift to give, she's the gift that'll live and live!" We tried to convince her the lyrics said Jewelry, not Julie,...

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Ringtone Fun

I learned 40 years ago when I moved to OK that your jingle on Thanksgiving Day meant the beginning of the Christmas season. I have had your jingle as a ringtone on my cell for a year now. I recently flew to NYC (where I grew up) for a visit. When the plane was...

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The Norelco Myth

Dear B.C. Clark Family, I would like to thank you for keeping the jingle going through out the years. I agree with others that it is truly Oklahoma's Christmas Carol and the Christmas season does not begin until I have heard the song. I have a 12 yr old son that now...

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A Band Sings the Jingle in Texas

I traveled around the U.S. and Canada for several years playing in a band. We played in various venues but mostly bars (honky tonks). We were playing at a club in Cowtown in Ft. Worth, TX about 8 or 9 years ago around Christmas time. It was a packed house and...

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A Walk Down Memory Lane

My name is Linda Helm. I was born and raised in Oklahoma. I left twice to live in Texas, but a couple of years ago I was able to retire early on the family farm near Maysville. I saw a commercial recently where people had emailed memories of shopping at BC Clark...

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The Jingle in Lucerne in June

This isn't a Christmas story but it is about the jingle. We were in Lucerne in June shopping for souvenirs and gifts at the famous Bucherer's Jewelry. As we were waiting to have my new watchband sized, I looked over the warranty info and, to my surprise, there was...

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Thank You

Thank you, thank you for putting the jingle and all the info on the web. I don't live in Oklahoma anymore, but have to check your website on Thanksgiving day because it is not yet time for Christmas until I see the BC Clark Commercial. Last year at my dad's we watched...

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Spreading the Jingle Around the World

Just want to thank you for the marvelous jingle. I am a native Oklahoman, living in Germany. I always miss family and my hometown of OKC the most during this time of the year. Knowing this, my brother in OKC e-mailed th e lyrics of the BC Clark jingle to me a few days...

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A Christmas Jingle in the Middle East

I was reminded again this week (by your jingle, of course) of an incident that occurred during my stint in the US Navy. I was deployed on the USS Truxtun CGN-35 (a guided missile cruiser) between August '91 and January '92. We had just spent 3 months in the Persian...

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Then It Felt like Christmas

After living the first 16 years of our marriage in Oklahoma City we moved to Tampa, FL in 1986. The first Christmas we spent there we missed not hearing the B.C. Clark jingle so much our former next door neighbors Pete & Barbara Clark (no relation) sent us a cassette...

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The Jingle in a Tipi

My two sisters and I grew up in Norman. One of my sisters now lives in a rural area of Cincinnati Ohio, and is involved in re-enacting scenes and events from the 1800s. She loves American Indian culture, and has a tipi on the land by her home. Janice tipi.jpgSaturday...

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Second State Song

Christmas of 1966 was the first Christmas my husband or I had spent outside of Oklahoma. We were in Germany with the U. S. Army in 1966 and 1967, We were stationed in North Carolina at the end of 1968 and our first daughter had been born the middle of November. We had...

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Part of Our Holiday Tradition

Growing up in Oklahoma, I always looked forward to Thanksgiving because I knew the B.C. Clark Jingle would be on T.V. This is my Most favorite Holiday song. I go around singing it all year long in fact. When I married my husband, I of course had to introduce him to...

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Christmas in Japan

Hello and Merry Christmas! This may be one of the most unusual letters you will receive this holiday season, but I just had to write. Having spent most of my life in Oklahoma, I always knew Christmas was just around the corner whenever I heard your jingle. It always...

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A Sign of the Holidays

Howdy, Just a short note to say that growing up in OKC and going on to college there I heard "The Jingle" every year at Christmas. I guess it's a traditional sign of the Holidays. I've since moved out of state, as most of the people I went to college with have done,...

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6 Little Words

Dear BC Clark Friends, Even though it was July when I found my dream engagement ring at your Penn Square store, when I called friends and family to tell them the good news, when they asked me where we got the ring I only had to sing 6 little words, "Jewelry is the...

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“Catching Up” with the Jingle

We started a tradition several years ago when we first had access to e-mail. One of us sent the other an e-mail that said "Jewelry is the gift to give" and that was the entire content of the e-mail. The other replied using the second line of the song. The e-mail went...

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More in the Christmas Mood

My name is Timothy Campbell, and I am an Oklahoma City native. I have been attending grad school in Europe, first in Germany and now in Poland, since 2002, and for this reason, this is my fifth straight Christmas away from home. I try to communicate with my family...

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The Jingle Always Brings a Smile

My future wife Sherry and I (both OKC born) were traveling on a narrow country highway in Alabama, 10 years ago (1996), when the BC Clark Jingle just popped into my head. It was one of those quiet moments when the conversation paused, and she glanced my way and I had...

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The Jingle Made Me Homesick

Like all native Oklahomans, the BC Clark jingle means "Christmas" to my family. My first Christmas living outside of Oklahoma, my sister sent me a package containing holiday cheer - candy, little gifts, a tree ornament, etc, and a cassette of the BC Clark jingle. She...

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Christmas is here!

The BC Clark jingle has always been like a person yelling "Christmas is here!" Now when the GM plant closed down this year (2006) my dad had to find a new job. We ended up moving to California leaving behind our family, friends and basically everything we knew. I...

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A Lot in Common with the Jingle

I was born and raised in Oklahoma and the B.C. Clark jingle and I have a lot in common. This Thanksgiving Day, while in route to my in-laws, we heard the jingle on radio, and once we arrived, I let everyone know that the Christmas shopping season has begun, because we...

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What a Small World

Chiang Mai, Thailand, January 2005 I was in the Jerusalem Falafel restaurant in Chiang Mai, Thailand, of all places, where I struck up a conversation with a beautiful American girl with red hair. When we arrived at the compulsory part about where we were both from, I...

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The Jingle is Still There

During the Oklahoma City Holiday season of 1956 I was only 3 years old, but few memories have lasted as long for me as the sight of the B.C.Clark commercial of that year. I remember receiving my little Traveller pedal tractor that Christmas and I remember the B.C....

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My Favorite Christmas Song

Hello and Merry Christmas! I am a native of Oklahoma, so the Jingle has always been a most beloved part of the Christmas season. I bought the sweatshirt with the words to the Jingle on the back that was issued for your anniversary a few years ago and wear it every...

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The Jingle Takes Me Home

Hearing the B. C. Clark Jingle takes me home. Back to my childhood, a magical and precious time that will forever live in my heart. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, my dad was a dairy farmer, I can remember the excitement of Christmas. My parents loved that time...

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Children Still Enjoy the Jingle

While I grew up a Kansas boy, both parents were raised in Shawnee, and our family always came to the OKC area for the holidays. I grew up with the B.C. Clark jingle as a traditional sound of the season. Now, I am in my 24th year as an Oklahoma elementary educator, and...

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Love at First Jingle

Your B.C. Clark Christmas jingle has a special place in my husband's and my heart. On Friday, October 13, 1989 my husband asked me to dance at the Ramstein Officer's Club in Ramstein, Germany. I had just been in country for two weeks and was tremendously homesick for...

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Thanks for the Memories

My mom passed away 10 years ago this past September 21st from ovarian cancer. I grew up in OKC, going to John Marshall HS, and on to graduate from OSU. I have lived in Amarillo, TX, since 1986 and every year I think of that jingle, it brings back good family memories...

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Family Christmas Video

In 2002, I was living in Arizona and had been away from my family at Christmas for the first time. I was really depressed and was not in the holiday sprit at all.! Desert scenery did not make for a good Christmas atmosphere for me. Our family celebrates our Christmas...

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The Jingle Sung in Iraq

ust thought you would like to know that your jingle has gone around the world. My son, Matthew, was stationed at Camp Taji, Iraq last Christmas. He was really beginning to feel homesick as he actually left 2 days before Thanksgiving. He is a medic in the U.S.Army and...

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Oklahoma’s Unofficial Christmas Carol

Back in 1975 I graduated from high school. Many of my friends went out of state to college that fall while I stayed here and attended, then, UCO. When they returned home several of them said although they were home with all the usual festivities it just didn't seem...

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Family Contest

Each year on Thanksgiving day, our family has the tradition of whoever hears the BC Clark Jingle first "wins" the contest for the year. We then call everyone else to claim our "bragging rights" until next year. We all participate and look forward to each Christmas...

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The Song Always Brightens My Day

I was born into a very talented musical family in 1970. I didn't remember the 1973 ad, but as young as five I had already memorized the B.C. Clark jingle. Singing the song always brightens my spirit, and it's catchy tune and words are genius! My mother sent me the...

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The Hidden Message

Years ago I was a new hire at the bottom of the corporate ladder, scarcely able to make ends meet. I met a young lady and after a whirlwind courtship, was eager to pop the question. I was tempted by the CZ rings that were available from a number of sources and was...

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Surprise Phone Call

I look forward to the first time I hear the jingle either on TV or on the radio every year. For many years, as long as I can remember, I start my Mom's holiday season off with a surprise phone call of me serenading her with the entire song while she is in the...

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The Business Meeting

My my, how wonderful a tradition that Christmas songs are. Imagine this: 60 plus Dillard Group Real Estate Professionals at our weekly meeting sitting together ready to begin when our beloved leader Jim West, says "In the holiday tradition, we must sing the most...

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Lost Without the Jingle

I have lived in Oklahoma all my life and have grown up listening to your jingle (for 42 years). I used to think it was just a Christmas song, until I got older and started listening to the words, and noticed it was an Anniversary song. It just wasn't Christmas UNTIL...

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The Only Good Memory

My husband and I were living in the Cayman Islands for about 6 months and towards the end of November it all turned really bad for us... To make a long ugly story short, we had packed up and had everything shipped home to Okarche, Oklahoma a few weeks prior to...

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No Humming Necessary

I went to a singles Sunday school Christmas Party about 25 years ago. The people there were in their 30’s. There were about 30 people there. We were eating some goodies and laughing. We started singing Christmas carols. We didn’t know all the words so we hummed the...

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New Minister Speechless During Sermon

We have a new minister at our church in Norman. She is young and enthusiastic, a wonderful musician and from Tulsa. Recently during her sermon, she began telling us about a jingle from a mall in Tulsa and how it indicated the beginning of the Christmas season. Someone...

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Two Very Young “Jingle” Fans

I'm a 37-year old born & raised "Okie" who grew up listening to your VERY BELOVED Christmas jingle! In my opinion, the Christmas season doesn't "officially" begin until your classic jingle starts playing on the airwaves! I'm now married to a WONDERFUL active duty...

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The Ice Breaker

When I was a trainer for an international business seminar company and on the road in December, the "ice breaker" first thing in the morning was to introduce myself and that in Oklahoma we had our very own State Christmas Carol. I simply began the jingle, and 2-8...

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What memories it brings!

My fiancé and I were looking for wedding rings over the weekend and wanted to go to the store in Penn Square Mall, but it was Sunday and closed. When I returned to work on Tuesday, I was looking on different web pages and “click” Google BC Clark. To my surprise, the...

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Family Tradition

Our family has been singing this jingle as a Christmas carol for as long as I can remember and I am 35. My uncle Tom always gathered the kids around and we'd go back in a room and practice singing Christmas carols then go out and sing for our parents and neighbors....

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That’s what was missing!

Several years ago my husband and I temporarily moved to Arkansas. As Christmas came near I just could not figure out why I couldn't get into the Christmas Spirit! Then one day I was one the phone with a friend in OKC and I heard the B.C. Clark Jingle in the...

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Teacher Schooled on Jingle

While getting ready for the Christmas Holiday one year, my elementary teacher was asking each student in our class what our favorite Christmas carol was. Some kids said Jingle Bells. Some said Rudolph. Others had visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their head....

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Singing Through the Halls

I grew up in Oklahoma, so the BC Clark jingle was a “staple of Christmas.” We have several teachers here at my school who are also “fellow Okies” and we always get together right after Thanksgiving and walk the halls of the school singing the BC Clark song so that we...

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Oklahoma’s Little Secret

I can remember being in Germany, Egypt, Kuwait, and Jordan and singing this silly jingle. It sure does make one smile when you're far from home. The great thing about it is that it's like Oklahoma's own little secret. My sister lives in Houston, my brother lives in...

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SNU Christmas Program

I lived in Oklahoma all of my short life until recently, and I received my undergraduate degree from Southern Nazarene University. Every year our Music department put on a Christmas extravaganza and everyone in the department would participate, including our renowned...

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We’d love to hear what the Jingle means to you.

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The BC Clark Anniversary Sale Jingle
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