GM picks up Royals’ discarded notes

General Motors still has money to advertise. A recently aired TV commercial touting red-hot savings at your local Pontiac dealership should sound familiar to Royals fans.

GM is using a song the Royals leased from a New York music house for two years. The song, “Summer Highway,” provided the soundtrack for the “This Is Kansas City” campaign the team waged in 2005 and 2006.

The Royals let their rights to the song expire. GM picked the tune off the waiver wire, added some jingle bells and (presto!) it’s a rock-and-roll Christmas. Here’s an audio file (sorry for the poor quality):

After the 2006 season, the Royals acquired a new song, which sounds similar to the old one. The Royals PR department says the song doesn’t have a name. I’m calling it “Summer Highway With Hand Claps.”— David Martin