Stuck in my Head
I had a song stuck in my head. It was the latest song by Taylor Swift. It had been playing in my head for the better part of two hours and I was getting tired of it. It's not that I have anything against Taylor Swift. It's nice to see a female vocalist that can play guitar and write. I even sort of like 'You Belong With Me'. Her phrasing is atrocious though, but that's another story. The fact is, most of her songs are about being a teenager. I'm 41 and not interested in that anymore. I would prefer something more mature.
Normally I can hear the Muzak playing throughout the store and that helps. The channel that is usually on is like a radio station minus the commercials and plays a variety of soft rock type music and a bit of country. Usually I can find a song to replace what's stuck in my head. Unfortunately for the past week or so someone has chosen the elevator music channel. You know what I'm talking about. It's the one with popular songs on it, but played by some sort of string orchestra or entirely instrumental. This is not going to help me.
I start mentally playing songs to get of Taylor Swift. I try Keith Urban, Pat Benatar, Heart, Brad Paisley,Tom Jones, America,Steve Wariner and many others. No luck. Some of them give me about five minutes of relieve before some metal switch goes on and that relentless voice chirps in my head. "You are the best thing that's ever been miiiine"
Ahhhhhhhhhhh! There has got to be something to stop this. It is truly starting to bug me, like an itch in a place you can't scratch or the low level headache that lingers after you've taken some ibuprofen. I still have three more hours to work and if I don't get this song about "the careless man's careful daughter" out of my head I'm going to beat my head against a wall.
I decide to try the counter irritant principle. Maybe thinking of other irritating songs will drive the song out. I try 'Yellow Submarine', When I'm 64', 'DaDo RonRonRon','It's My Party' and 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'. (You know things are serious when I pull out 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' as I really dislike that song.) No luck.
Maybe if I go for some classic 80s music. 'I Heard a Rumor', 'Heaven is a Place on Earth', no luck there. I even try thinking about the entire Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. That doesn't work either.
What if this song is stuck in my head forever? I'll go nuts. Stark raving nuts. I take a deep breath. I haven't tried any foreign music. I try to sort my way through Andrea Bocelli and Eros Ramazzotti songs that I remember. Since all of them are in either in Italian or Spanish it's hard to do that. Then a song pops into my head.
"Para bailar la bamba,Para bailar la bamba, Se necesita uno poca de gracia"
It was the sweetest sound I ever heard. The Los Lobos version of 'La Bamba' was playing in my head and was chasing out Taylor Swift. The relief was immense. It didn't matter that I had (and still have) no clue what the song is about. It's cheerful and bouncy enough that I like and and don't mind if it gets stuck in my head.
I'll keep it in mind the next time I have a song stuck in my head.
Normally I can hear the Muzak playing throughout the store and that helps. The channel that is usually on is like a radio station minus the commercials and plays a variety of soft rock type music and a bit of country. Usually I can find a song to replace what's stuck in my head. Unfortunately for the past week or so someone has chosen the elevator music channel. You know what I'm talking about. It's the one with popular songs on it, but played by some sort of string orchestra or entirely instrumental. This is not going to help me.
I start mentally playing songs to get of Taylor Swift. I try Keith Urban, Pat Benatar, Heart, Brad Paisley,Tom Jones, America,Steve Wariner and many others. No luck. Some of them give me about five minutes of relieve before some metal switch goes on and that relentless voice chirps in my head. "You are the best thing that's ever been miiiine"
Ahhhhhhhhhhh! There has got to be something to stop this. It is truly starting to bug me, like an itch in a place you can't scratch or the low level headache that lingers after you've taken some ibuprofen. I still have three more hours to work and if I don't get this song about "the careless man's careful daughter" out of my head I'm going to beat my head against a wall.
I decide to try the counter irritant principle. Maybe thinking of other irritating songs will drive the song out. I try 'Yellow Submarine', When I'm 64', 'DaDo RonRonRon','It's My Party' and 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'. (You know things are serious when I pull out 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' as I really dislike that song.) No luck.
Maybe if I go for some classic 80s music. 'I Heard a Rumor', 'Heaven is a Place on Earth', no luck there. I even try thinking about the entire Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. That doesn't work either.
What if this song is stuck in my head forever? I'll go nuts. Stark raving nuts. I take a deep breath. I haven't tried any foreign music. I try to sort my way through Andrea Bocelli and Eros Ramazzotti songs that I remember. Since all of them are in either in Italian or Spanish it's hard to do that. Then a song pops into my head.
"Para bailar la bamba,Para bailar la bamba, Se necesita uno poca de gracia"
It was the sweetest sound I ever heard. The Los Lobos version of 'La Bamba' was playing in my head and was chasing out Taylor Swift. The relief was immense. It didn't matter that I had (and still have) no clue what the song is about. It's cheerful and bouncy enough that I like and and don't mind if it gets stuck in my head.
I'll keep it in mind the next time I have a song stuck in my head.
Finnish national anthem works for me!
ReplyDelete