# Songs which are "earworms" (they burrow into your head and you can't get them out) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388 "2004-12-23T21:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/21 "2004-12-25T13:42:05Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > I would guess most dopers don’t know that song > > […yet!](http://www.thefucksociety.com/anim.php?h=400&id=bananaphone&w=550)😃 > > Cellular, modular, interactive-odular… Oh, you, sir, are waaaay more evil than me :D. [sub]…my cellular, bananular phone!..[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/22 "2004-12-25T15:01:48Z")
Was it yesterday or the day before that I got an earworm and gave it to EVERYBODY. The people in my office, even some on-line folks. _I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you But it 's gonna take money! Lots and lots of spending money!_ ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/23 "2004-12-25T15:45:13Z")
> [@Priam](#): > > _Dragostea Din Tei_ I haven’t had that song in my head in ages… Until reading that other thread with the guy lip syncing to it. Maa-ah-eee! ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/24 "2004-12-25T18:19:52Z")
It’s OK if you’re a Christian, or a Muslim or a Jew. It’s OK if you’re agnostic and you don’t know what to do… Guess I’d better not post the whole song and risk breaking bord rules. Anyway, this is going to be the best Chrismahanakwansica(sp?) ever! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/25 "2004-12-25T20:03:47Z")
That horrible song about the Titanic keeps getting stuck in my head. When this happens I try to clear it from my mind by imagining the space shuttle Columbia hitting the Titanic. Maybe I could make up an entirely new song out of that scenario. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/26 "2004-12-26T02:20:57Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > That horrible song about the Titanic keeps getting stuck in my head. Do you mean “My Heart Will Go On,” or that old folky song (forget the title but the refrain goes, “It was sad when the great ship went down”)? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/27 "2004-12-26T03:50:20Z")
This one got stuck in my ear recently and I realized that it happens whenever I hear the song. _Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah Here I am at Camp Granada_ ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/28 "2004-12-26T05:08:07Z")
I mean the horrible one that they teach kids at girl scout camp. “They built the ship Titanic to sail the ocean blue…” Well, duh, yes, they didn’t build it to sail down Main Street, did they? Don’t get me started on that song. I forgot to take my meds today. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/29 "2004-12-26T10:59:11Z")
Just the other day I heard, for the first time, that charming little ditty entitled “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” and it’s been looping in my head ever since. What’s maddening is I can only remember the first five lines, so that’s what I keep humming/singing/whistling, and now I’m afraid my co-worker is plotting my death. So I’ll share: > [@](#): > > _I want a hippopotamus for Christmas > Only a hippopotamus will do! > Don’t want a doll, > No dinky tinker toys, > I want a hippopotamus to fill my life with joy! (repeat ad infinitum)_ ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/30 "2004-12-26T11:15:44Z")
A few of the worst: -The beginning of the first _L’Arlesienne Suite_, for almost two months at one point. Really really sucked. -another vote for Singing in the Rain -The Uncle Fucker song. -Something by Evanescence, not sure what. The singer sounded like Infested Kerrigan from Starcraft. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/31 "2004-12-26T20:34:08Z")
> [@Paladud](#): > > A few of the worst: Oh, if you want to talk about the worst… I had _Hotstepper_ by Ini Kamozi stuck in my head for somewhere on the order of 8 years. Ask any of my friends, I was constanty singing it (just the chrorus.) I didn’t even like the damn song when it came out, but now I feel a strange connection with it. My grandpa sang _Clementine_ every day for the first 23 years of my life (which marks his death :() and probably for many years before that. ---
**Author:** ![CurlyD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@CurlyD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurlyD)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/32 "2004-12-27T03:43:28Z")
Dave Barry’s bad songs survey of a few years back turned up some real earworms. Be warned - clicking on this link could be a mistake. [http://www.lovedungeon.net/humor/dave/index.html](http://www.lovedungeon.net/humor/dave/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Logicalkitten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Logicalkitten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Logicalkitten)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/33 "2004-12-27T04:19:58Z")
Any song I ever hear last goes through my head. Right now, its I’m a goofy goober yah, you’re a goofy goober, yah. ---
**Author:** ![dare\_devil007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@dare\_devil007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dare_devil007)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/34 "2004-12-27T04:38:58Z")
“Complicated” by Avril Lavigne. I liked it and had it stuck in my head until all I heard the little seventh-grade overly hyperactive preteens at my school ruined it for me. :o ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/35 "2004-12-27T14:40:57Z")
_Sweet Dreams_ by the Eurythmics. Gah! Now I’ve got it! ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/36 "2004-12-27T14:49:53Z")
A few months ago I heard Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple twice in one day. It took me over a month to get it out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/37 "2004-12-27T20:55:32Z")
A former local radio station (WLOL 99.5 iIrc) used to play a song with the chorus “Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot A Num Num. A Num? A Num.” I have no idea who did the song, what the title was, or why it existed. It taunts my memory with its vagueness. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/38 "2004-12-27T21:50:53Z")
I remember that one, **st. pauler**. And now _it’s_ in my head! Better than _Sweet Dreams_, tho’. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Sparky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Master\_Sparky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Sparky)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/39 "2004-12-27T21:56:04Z")
Right now, it’d be Nelly’s _Over and Over Again_. That also describes how much airplay the thing’s getting – I don’t think I can drive to the nearest grocery store without hearing it. Not that it’s really a bad thing, mind you – it’s one hell of a catchy tune. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388/40 "2004-12-27T21:58:16Z")
The most insidious earworms are the ones that lurk just out of notice; I’ve just realized that I’ve been humming Heart’s “Never” for the last 45 minutes. I last heard the song on Saturday, so why it is just now making an appearance is beyond me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-which-are-earworms-they-burrow-into-your-head-and-you-cant-get-them-out/281388.md?page=3)