Fitbit

Fitbit is an activity tracker that looks like a watch and with its three-dimensional accelerometer measures steps taken, calories burned, floors climbed, it calculates distance traveled, monitors heart rate, communicates wirelessly with your computer, what have you, and actually tells time. The Fitbit television commercial has a catchy tune. You might have heard it.

30 second Fitbit Ad:

The song is written by Seth Olinsky specifically for the Fitbit commercial. And although Olinsky denies it, I knew the moment I heard it that the song is based on a song in Belgian French way back, way way back, waaaaaaay back in 1977-8 as sort of parody on punk. I honestly expected to hear the French lyrics, but no, just the commercial words.

The producers back then wanted to play with pogo jumping style dancing that was common punk back then. The song is called Ça Plane Pour Moi, The basis of it is a jabbing staccato repetition. The phrase is idiom, "that glides/sails for me" translated: Everything's going just fine for me." In its way it seems to me to make fun of punk, sort of anti-political statement, anti anti-music establishment, his glossy clothes in the video are obviously anti-punk.

The song reached #8 on British charts and has been covered several times. The covers are easier to watch but none did as well.

The original video is Plastic Bertrand jumping up and down to four notes repeated and gay as all hell. Honestly, although brief enough, quite impossible to watch all the way through. But tell me, by just a few notes, if this isn't the exact same thing as heard in the Fitbit advert that Seth Olinsky claims to be his own. Blah.

Man, that guy can really dance!