# How to get rid of a song that's stuck in your head! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976 "2006-07-18T05:05:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/1 "2006-07-18T05:05:37Z")
Someone told me about this and it really works. The next time you get a song stuck in your head, sing the Spiderman theme song to yourself. Repeat once or twice if necessary. I don’t know how, but the Spiderman theme is a song eraser. And you won’t get the theme itself stuck in your head. You can thank me by buying me coffee. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/2 "2006-07-18T05:36:18Z")
Spiderman has a theme song? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/3 "2006-07-18T05:43:11Z")
Great. Thanks for the advice. By the way, you couldn’t be more wrong. Now I have that song stuck in my head in that shrilly, stereotypical chinese voice like the one the woman had that sang it in the movie. How much arsenic do you take in your coffee, one teaspoon or two? ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/4 "2006-07-18T05:44:46Z")
[Spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spider can!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJV4KqK0LpY&search=spiderman) ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/5 "2006-07-18T06:42:51Z")
I don’t have sound on my computer. (I really should get those speakers hooked up.) Do you think the theme from Batman would work? ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/6 "2006-07-18T06:45:18Z")
I know the Australian National Anthem works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/7 "2006-07-18T12:41:11Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Great. Thanks for the advice. > > By the way, you couldn’t be more wrong. Now I have that song stuck in my head in that shrilly, stereotypical chinese voice like the one the woman had that sang it in the movie. > > How much arsenic do you take in your coffee, one teaspoon or two? _None!_ Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/8 "2006-07-18T13:07:49Z")
There’s always Mark Twain’s cure, ala [Punch, Brothers, Punch](http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/559/)! (You have to scroll down past an ad to find the story!) ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/9 "2006-07-18T13:23:16Z")
_Spiderman_ is actually one of the easiest songs for me to get stuck in my head, along with the theme from _I Dream of Jeannie_. Over the years, I’ve found the best way to get rid of a song is to give it to someone else. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/10 "2006-07-18T13:29:49Z")
I’ve always used _It’s a Small World_, myself. I’ve heard it so many times that it doesn’t stick for very long, but it does erase whatever song I had stuck before. When I suggest it to other people, though, I usually have to duck flying crockery. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/11 "2006-07-18T13:44:52Z")
A malicious cow-orker just planted the “Hippopotomus for Christmas” song in the whole team by referring to it in an e-mail. After the requisite punches to the arm he endured, I counter attacked with “Puff the Magic Dragon” Not to be outdone, he attempted to download an MP3 of “Hippopotomus” Strangely one file named “hippo.wmv” was actually an excerpt from the Scherzo movement of Beethoven’s 9th. I found listening to this to be a surprisingly effective eraser! Until he wandered by my cube singing, “Oompa, loompa, doop-a-dee doo!” Grrrrrr! ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/12 "2006-07-18T14:11:46Z")
> [@Nature's Call](#): > > A malicious cow-orker just planted the “Hippopotomus for Christmas” song in the whole team by referring to it in an e-mail. After the requisite punches to the arm he endured, I counter attacked with “Puff the Magic Dragon” > > Not to be outdone, he attempted to download an MP3 of “Hippopotomus” Strangely one file named “hippo.wmv” was actually an excerpt from the Scherzo movement of Beethoven’s 9th. I found listening to this to be a surprisingly effective eraser! > > Until he wandered by my cube singing, “Oompa, loompa, doop-a-dee doo!” > > Grrrrrr! I bet if you stabbed him with a pair of scissors, your other coworkers would gladly help you hide the body! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/13 "2006-07-18T18:21:20Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > …along with the theme from _I Dream of Jeannie_. Damn you, **Draelin**!! Doooo doot! Doot doo da doo doot, doooo doot! Doot doo da doo doot, doooo doot! Doot doo da doo doot, doooo doot! Kill me. Doot doo da doo doot, doooo doot! Doot doo da doo doot, doooo doot! Doot doo da doo doot, doooo doot! Doot doo da doo doot, doooo doot! Please! Just fucking kill me already! Da doot doot dooo! ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/14 "2006-07-18T18:27:37Z")
I expected this to be a question of how to do it and I was going to suggest humming ‘It’s A Small World’. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/15 "2006-07-18T18:43:31Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Damn you, **Draelin**!! 😃 I used to call an old coworker, sing the first six notes and nothing more, and hang up. He’d usually show up at my desk looking murderous about half an hour later. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/16 "2006-07-18T19:45:19Z")
Whenever a co-worker complains about our Muzac in the store, I start singing, very nasally and whiny and at the top of my lungs, “It’s a Small World After All”. I get thwapped usually, and sometimes pinged with rubber bands, but it _does_ seem to work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/17 "2006-07-18T19:48:21Z")
Hal Briston, I am gonna cry I am laughing so hard. How long did it take you to phonetically get the Jeannie song typed? And I don’t remember it having lyrics… But thanks, now it’s stuck in there. Maybe I can replace it with the circus song that I memorized while on hold with the IRS for three frickin’ hours. Sadists. dee dee deedle deedle de de de de dee dee deedle deedle de de de de de diddle diddle diddle de diddle diddle diddle diiiiiiidle dee ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/18 "2006-07-18T20:16:20Z")
What a coincidence you started this thread at this time. I had always heard about the Ren & Stimpy _Happy Happy Joy Joy_ number, but I’d never seen or heard it. Earlier today, I watched it on [youtube.com](http://youtube.com) for the very first time ever, and now I CAN’T GET THAT FRICKIN’ DITTY OUT OF MY HEAD! I’m starting to look like [Ren](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3ftPCZ7Pzo&search=stimpy%20happy) in the film clip! Help me. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/19 "2006-07-18T21:14:58Z")
Mahna mahna (do doo, de doo doo) Mahna mahna (do doo, de do) ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976/20 "2006-07-18T21:21:35Z")
If that works, it’s brilliant. I’ll have to try it next time I get a song stuck in my head. Ontario may be a bit far to go to buy you coffee, but in this case it would be worth it – I get songs stuck in my head for _days_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-song-thats-stuck-in-your-head/364976.md?page=2)