More often than not, on any given day, I have a song stuck in my head. My brain clearly has some masochistic tendencies, because these songs are usually crap. And let's face it, after hearing it repeatedly in your head for hours on end, any song is going to suck. This phenomenon has been termed an "earworm."
Adding to the trauma, my earworms typically involve one small section of a song, repeated over, and over, and over again in my head. This is likely because I have picked it up from TV, or in a store, and I don't actually know all of the lyrics. I try to "re-program" my brain by thinking of another, better song, but that tactic usually fails, and I have to let it run its course.
Here's the top 10 songs stuck in my head (and actually, not all of them are crap).
10. "Baby Got Back," by Sir Mix-A-Lot
This is a classic, to be sure, but it's not exactly the height of intelligent, insightful lyricism. I am not ashamed to admit that I do actually know every word to this song. OK, after typing that, I change my mind. I am ashamed.
Top line stuck in my head: "My anaconda don't want none unless you've got buns, hon."
Yep. Ashamed.
9. Subway's "Five-dollar footlong" jingle
This is some insidous business. I actually read an article on Slate a few years ago in which the author speaks to the composer of the jingle, in an effort to determine if there was indeed a diabolical earworm strategy behind it. Read it for yourself to get the answer.
Top line stuck in my head: Umm. "Five. Five dollar. Five dollar foot looooooong."
8. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," by Michael Jackson
Ok, this song is actually pretty awesome. After MJ's death last year, I had quite a few of his songs stuck in my brain's rotation. There are far worse earworms until you get to the...
Top line stuck in my head: "Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa, ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa." MAKE IT STOP!
7. "We Will Rock You," by Queen
It's a sports stadium staple, complete with stomp-and-clap crowd participation. Queen does, in fact, rock us. I don't, however, appreciate them taking up residence in my head, rent-free, for hours on end.
Top line stuck in my head: "We will, we will, rock you." Duh.
6. "Tik Tok," by Ke$ha
I felt even more ashamed after typing that idiotic dollar sign in her name. I don't listen to top 40 radio often (because I am rarely in the car; I drive less than 4,000 miles a year. That's a story for another day), but this song has been pretty inescapable. It seems to be on TV nonstop. Because it's used often in promos, I don't actually know all of the lyrics. That may be a blessing, but it also means there's just one...
Top line stuck in my head: "Don't stop, make it pop, DJ, blow my speakers up, tonight, I'mma fight, till we see the sunlight."
Stay tuned for the Top 5!
No comments:
Post a Comment