Make Your Own Kind of Music (song)

"Make Your Own Kind of Music" is a pop song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil first recorded in 1968 by New York City-based trio the Will-O-Bees (Janet Blossom, Steven Porter, and Robert Merchanthouse) who regularly performed Mann/Weil compositions. After Cass Elliot had a hit in the summer of 1969 with Mann/Weil's "It's Getting Better" she recorded "Make Your Own Kind of Music" as the followup single and her album Bubblegum, Lemonade, and... Something for Mama was re-released as Make Your Own Kind of Music, the title cut having been added to the original track listing. However Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music" single only just reached the Top 40 at #36: the similar chart impact of the followup single: another Mann/Weil composition entitled "New World Coming" which reached #42, signaled Elliot's inability to maintain a profile as a current hitmaker as the 1960s turned into the '70s.

• ¹The Cash Box Top 100 Singles peak for "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "New World Coming" was respectively #25 and #30.
• ²Billboard's Easy Listening chart peak for "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "New World Coming" was respectively #6 and #4.

It is set in the key of E major.

[edit] Other versions

In 1972 Barbra Streisand had a single release of "Make Your Own Kind of Music" in a medley with "Sing" which became an Easy Listening hit (#28) but only reached #94 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Others who have performed the song include Bobby Sherman and Paul Westerberg.

[edit] Popular culture

• Cass's version of the song is prominently featured in four episodes of the television series Lost, often associated with the character Desmond Hume: "Man of Science, Man of Faith", "Adrift", "Flashes Before Your Eyes" and "A Tale of Two Cities". A faint sitar version can also be heard at the end of "Live Together, Die Alone".
• The song appeared in the Swedish documentary I en annan del av Köping during 2007.
• As of February 2006^[update], a Snickers commercial airing in the United States featured Sherman's version.
• Cass's version also appears in the play and film Beautiful Thing, alongside many more of her recordings.
• It is used on one of Hallmark's musical greeting cards.
• Until recently it was featured on a flash animation on Newgrounds.com called "We Are NativeAmericanCats", but it was pulled because of a lawsuit involving the record company.
• As of August, 2009^[update], it is used in advertisements in Ireland for the home products retailer IKEA.