# Annoying songs stuck in your head



## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

I was discussing the subject of annoying songs getting stuck in one's head with someone recently and she brought up one that has remained stuck in my brain for over a week now.

I think that for a song to remain stuck it has to have a certain level of fromage, so that it's somewhat horribly fascinating, like a car wreck, but also have a good pop hook or two, so that it remains stuck.

The song this lady mentioned was "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" by Elton John with Kiki Dee. Both cheesy and hooky. "Ooh hoo, nobody knows it."

In our discussion I said that a song won't remain stuck for too long if you only know a few of the words, because you get tired of it. Knowing more than the chorus or one verse gives your distracted brain much more to play with. Unfortunately, I emailed her the lyrics to it, to hopefully get back at her for putting it in my head, but it backfired, when I made the tragic mistake of reading them. Aaaarrrgghh!

A more recent song that remained stuck for me was "Barbie Girl", especially because I put the name of a friend in and started singing it to her. "C'mon Barbie, let's go party! Ooh hoo hoo hoo!"

Another big one to get stuck in my vacuous mind was "Safety Dance" from the '80s. "You can dance if want to ..." My brother mentioned a TV spoof he had seen where they replaced the word dance with whatever the character happened to be doing and he started doing the same. And so did I. "You can post if you want to, you can post all night and day."

So what song do you get stuck in your head?

Anyone who wants the lyrics to "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" can PM me.


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## paul_sells_macs (Aug 31, 2004)

They are called 'Ear Boogers' . . .


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## paul_sells_macs (Aug 31, 2004)

Actually, it is a researched phenomenon. See:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3221499.stm


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Oh great, so now some scientist is going to help advertisers and pop bands use this for the purpose of evil.

Expect more earworms to come.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

I get ad tunes/jingles regularly stuck in my head but of course I can't think of one right now.......oh Yeah 

"Bounty... the quicker picker upper......."


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## yo_paully (Sep 20, 2004)

After reading your post I now have "Safety Dance" stuck in my head...

I've just opened iTunes and I'm listening to Modest Mouse in an effort to exorcise Men Without Hats out of my head... I hope it works!
________
VFR750R


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

WE CAN DANCE WHEN WE WANNOOOO....


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

When I was a kid... I actually had to go for therapy to get this jingle out of my head, "It's hard not to think of the Bay."

Probably have to be in 30's or over to know that one.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

There won't be many that have had* "I want my Mapo.....I want it NOW!"* stuck their brains.  
Scary that's it's still there.


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## sammy (Oct 12, 2002)

For those watching the Apprentice or any of The Donald's endeavors in overexposure...

"Money-money-money-moonneey"


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

I'MTURNINGJAPANESEOHYESI'MTURNINGJAPANESEIREALLYTHINK-SO! dere-da-da-dere-nere-nere-nere...


Personally, I find that the less lyrics I know, the long a song remains stuck in my brain. It just keeps looping over the part I do know, whereas if I know all the words I can sometimes force it to stop by humming/singing/thinking it from start to end.

But then again, it usually comes back to me...so...yeah.


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## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

This problem gets far worse when you have children. Having 'Safety Dance' or "Turning Japanese' stuck in your head is acceptable... but I'm stuck with Raffi and Barney and inane tunes by The Wiggles:

OLD MAN EMU:

"He can't fly but I'm telling you,
He can run the pants off a kangaroo"
(as "sung" in a cameo by the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin)


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

ring-ring, ring-ring, ring-ring, ring-ring, BANANA PHONE*

*WARNING: this link leads to a f*cked up animation which you may or may not find humorous.


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## ErnstNL (Apr 12, 2003)

My most annoying songs,

DUDE looks like a LADY... aha.... aha 

Blinded by the light 
revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

You're humming them now, right?


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## Rob (Sep 14, 2002)

On a related note, I always remember the urban legend about the driver who was trapped in his vehicle after a rollover accident. It took a day before he was found but it was too late. The strange thing was that he didn't have any serious physical injuries. 

He had Wham! in his tape deck and it was set for continuous play. He was trapped and couldn't reach the tape eject button.

Wake me up before you go go .......


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

In my office, we call these intrusions "the ear worm of the day." We share them out and each of us takes delight in making the others groan.

This week there was some Boy George going around. Nasty stuff. Also "Daniel" by Elton John. A nice song actually but it takes on different meaning nowadays when I reflect on EJ's orientation. Still, I would rather be "infected" by a good song than an inane one. "Safety dance" makes me cringe, as always, and same with "Blinded by the light." Although I have to add that I can listen to Bruce Springsteen's version quite happily... it's the Manfred Mann one that makes me despair.

Whenever one of my colleagues succeeds in installing a fresh ear worm in my brain, I usually reply "transfer complete." Then we all laugh and get on with our work.


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

sorry, i didn't read the topic title correctly
as you were

[ October 22, 2004, 07:54 PM: Message edited by: MACSPECTRUM ]


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Brylcreem, a little dab will do ya,
Brylcreem you'll look so debonair,
Brylcreem the gals will all pursue ya
Simply rub a little in your hair!

Bet that dates me doesn't it?

Cheers


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Oh, shake shake shake!
Shake shake shake!
Shake your booty!
Shake your booty!


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## Gerbill (Jul 1, 2003)

No irritating song in YOUR head? Want one?

http://www.angrymonkey.net/putfileshere/thellamasong.swf

Cheers :-> Bill


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## New Coke (Jul 13, 2004)

I have the "America, F#ck Yeah" theme song from Team American World Police in my head. 

Man, that movie is funny.


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## marrmoo (Jul 24, 2003)

llama llama, duck

Transaction complete

@%&#@@#!


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

I don't know the name of this song or who sings it, but its a (slow) Country & Western song and its sung by a guy. Here are some of the lyrics:

I love little baby ducks,
Old pick-up trucks,
and slow moving trains,
and rain.

Funny, nothing about his dog a-dyin' or his girl a-leavin'.


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

.


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## Greenman (Feb 22, 2003)

If I'm on the subway or out and about on the streets and I don't have my walkman with me (haven't won that iPod yet) I usually have a song or two in my head. 

And only occasionally is it an irritating one...

"Yummy, yummy, yummy I've got love in my tummy and I feel like lovin you...." 1910 Fruitgum Co.

Then again there are the classics that never seem to wear thin....

"I'm gonna wait til the midnight hour
That's when my love comes tumblin' down
I'm gonna wait 'til the midnight hour
When there's no one else around
I'm gonna take you girl and hold you
And do all the things I told you
In the midnight hour"

or the always popular (in my head at least) Frank Zappa:

"Now believe me when I tell you that my song is really true
I want everyone to listen and believe
It's about some little people from a long time ago
And all the things the neighbors didn't know
Early in the morning Daddy Dinky went to work
Selling lamps & chairs to San Ber'dino squares
And I still remember Mama with her apron & her pad
Feeding all the boys at Ed's Cafe! 



Whizzing & pasting & pooting through the day . . .
(Ronnie helping Kenny helping burn his poots away!)
And all the while on a shelf in the shed:
KENNY'S LITTLE CREATURES ON DISPLAY! 



Ronnie saves his numies on a window in his room
(A marvel to be seen: dysentery green)
While Kenny & his buddies had a game out in the back:
LET'S MAKE THE WATER TURN BLACK 



We see them after school in a world of their own
(To some it might seem creepy what they do . . . )
The neighbors on the right sat & watched them every night
(I bet you'd do the same if they was you) 



Whizzing & pasting & pooting through the day . . .
(Ronnie helping Kenny helping burn his poots away!)
And all the while on a shelf in the shed:
KENNY'S LITTLE CREATURES ON DISPLAY! 



Ronnie's in the Army now & Kenny's taking pills
Oh! How they yearn to see a bomber burn!
Color flashing, thunder crashing, dynamite machine!
(Wait till the fire turns green . . . wait till the fire turns green)
WAIT TILL THE FIRE TURNS GREEN! 



This would be a little bit of vocal teen-age heaven, right here on Earth!" 


I cut a nature documentary earlier this summer and the temp music soundtrack I used was "American Beauty".... I liked it when I began.... but hearing the same piece over and over again all day, 5 or 6 days a week, for weeks... suffice it to say I'd rather not hear that one for a long while.


Ever have a neighbour (or an ex) that purchases a new piece of music and proceeds to PLAY IT TO DEATH!!!!??? for the next few weeks  

I'll bet you've got a tune playing in your head right now... am I right?


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## Chealion (Jan 16, 2001)

Gerbill - You are an evil, evil man.









Now it's stuck in my head and it shows no signs of wanting to leave.


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## gwillikers (Jun 19, 2003)

Cher- Believe.

I can never forgive her for that song, it's ruined many evenings of mine while at work. It's like glue, and it's sheer torture. I'm convinced it could be used to make criminals confess. Just force them to listen to it repeatedly for hours, and they'll succumb. 

ARGHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm hearing it NOW, after writing this post!!!!!!

Noooooooooooooooooooo...


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## Nina Danne Marshall (Oct 11, 2004)

There is this song, and it's not a real song, or a jingle, and it's never been recorded. But the drummer and bassist in my band always sing it when they're being sarcastic, and it goes

it doesn't matter
it doesn't matter
nobody cares
cause it doesn't matter
Noooobooooddddyyyy cccaaarrrreeesss
cause iiiittttt dddooooeeesssnnnn'tttt maaattteer
(and repeat until someone ends up beating one of them up)

it makes me want to go insane! I wake up every morning with it in my head!


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

You think YOU got it bad...

Ever watched the ice cream truck drive through your neighborhood on a sunny afternoon with that little tinkly jingle blasting out of the loudspeakers? A happy tune, to be sure....and always the same twelve note jingle. Day in and day out. Month in and mointh out. For YEARS.

And I bet that some of those poor drivers wake up in a cold sweat each night, consumed by a burning desire to murder the freak who wrote that ditty.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

Oh sweet zombie jebus, how many of you have seen "Euro Trip?"

Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me
Do it in my van every Sunday.
She tells him she's in church but she doesn't go
Still she's on her knees and Scotty doesn't know!

Oh Scotty doesn't know!
So Don't Tell Scotty!
Scotty doesn't know!
Scotty doesn't know!
So Don't Tell Scotty!

....

Oi.


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## jfpoole (Sep 26, 2002)

The song itself? Funny.

The fact that it ended up as a ringtone at the end of the movie? Priceless.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

!

hhhheeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrreeeeeee cccoooommmmmmmmmeeeesssssssss aaaaaaaaaaaaanother ooonnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeee


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

_Xanadu! Xaaaaanaduuuuwuuuuu..._


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## LittleCanadianMapleLeaf (Sep 23, 2004)

Posterboy!

That was SO no cool









My roommate in first year used to blast Banana Phone on a Friday night before going out to the bar. 

And I had thought I'd never hear it again after leaving residence... *mutters*


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## kermit (Oct 9, 2004)

CAKE have lots of songs that get stuck between my ears.








They have some wicked, hypnotic hooks..my favorite band at the moment.
They were in Toronto the other day and in Vancouver last night. Anyone go to see them??


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

Fffaaabric-land - fa-bric-land!


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Macdonalds, I'm lovin' it!

Drives me crazy.

Cheers


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## talonracer (Dec 30, 2003)

I'm creative director for a music store company. As such, pretty much all of us are huge music geeks with insane libraries. 

About a month ago, I went to see Thornley. Opening act was Todd Kearns (formerly of Age of Electric). He did his new stuff, but also threw in the old AoE hits that everyone knew. The next day, one of the guys I work with asked how the show was as we walked over to get our morning *bux. I told him "Awesome!!", and that Todd Kearns was really great too - he IMMEDIATELY breaks out into song... "All I see is UGLY..!", complete with air guitar. We sang it all the way into the coffee shop, trying to stop while we ordered.. but the song kept returning. Didn't matter what music we played for the next couple of days, that song was stuck.


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## cdnbacon (Feb 26, 2001)

Here are a couple of antidotes, er I mean ear boogers!  
http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/22/


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## hmto (Jul 4, 2003)

This is what not to do. 
You and a friend decide to go pick something up. He offers to drive, he has little kids, there's a Barney tape in the deck.
For the next three days...

I love you, you love me, we're one happy family...

Shoot me now. No wait! Shoot my buddy for not turning it off for the entire trip to the store. It's only the two of us in the car


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Midnight at the oasis...


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## MaxPower (Jan 30, 2003)

You're all going to kill me.....

do do do do ahhhhhhh.
Fresh goes better, Menthos freshness
Fresh goes better, with Menthos fresh and full of life.


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## gwillikers (Jun 19, 2003)

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world

Yes, I've been to Disneyland (Anaheim), and yes, it nearly drove me to violence! Why oh why did I agree to go on that ride?









-H


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## Cynical Critic (Sep 2, 2002)

Let's get tickets and go down to the Small World ride with ear plugs and bats...


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Oh noooo....


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## Moscool (Jun 8, 2003)

As usual, ARTHUR C. CLARKE GOT THERE FIRST !

Yup back in 1957 he wrote a short story called The Ultimate Melody about a guy designing a computer to pen the melody that would perfectly match brainwaves.... (here is a summary).

Result: I rushed out and bought a complete collection of ACC's short stories collected over... 70 YEARS of writing. The 1000-odd pages will keep me busy as we switch to winter time!


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Today's Hit Song!

_...But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door...
_































I had to resort to my trusty _Spidey Cure_ for this one - sing the Spiderman theme song to yourself, and it usually banishes whatever earworm is stuck in your head. This cure however, like most remedies, is not without its own side-effects.


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

A Wimoweh, A Wimoweh, A Wimoweh, A Wimoweh!

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" has been rattling around my head since I first heard it back in 1961.

It just won't go away.

Cheers


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Sing along with Sinc, everyone --

(Sung to the tune "The Lion Sleeps Tonight")

In the cave, the mighty cave,
Macnutt sleeps tonight.
In the cave, the mighty cave,
'cause he knows he right.

Oh, wing a right, a wing a left,
The Liberals are so bereft of sight.
Oh, wing a left, a wing a right,
The socialists too are all in flight.

In the cave, the mighty cave,
no cries of plight are heard.
In the cave, the mighty cave,
justice is absurd.

Oh, you are wrong, and I am right,
No other views are in sight.
Oh, you are wrong, and I am right,
Trust me or we'll have to fight.

Yada......yada..........yada.........

You know the rest.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

"It's time to vote once again......." 

Can't leave me head.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

Gay Bar by Electric Six has been rattling around my noggin since I saw this video the first time.


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Damn you PB!!

I thought I had *finally* got rid of that one ... OH Nooooo!

"Let's start a war ... *a nuclear war!*"

It's great how the video maker made ample use of Dubya's famous smirk.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

*Damn you PB!! I thought I had finally got rid of that one ... OH Nooooo!*

Muah ha ha! Mine is an _evil_ laugh!


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