Culture: Music: Song: Stuck
Earworm Hotline   (+7)  [vote for, against]
1-800-NEW-SONG

This is for those who get bits of Madonna lyric stuck on permanent repeat in the brain pan, which is apparently more often musicians, women, and neurotics. (Sucks if you're all three.)
For instance, today the title lyric for Pink's "I'm Comin' Out," is bouncing around in my head. As if it were an ancient and mysterious riddle that must be solved.
"So you better get this party started."
It would be a good thing to start an automated hotline that good folks could call to replace bad stuck songs (aka, earworms) with good tunes. If you call with Madonna and hang up with Enya, you'll be glad you did. (disclaimer: or maybe you won't)
Of course, if you call with the one line you know from "Like a Virgin" stuck to your brain and the song randomly selected for you is the same song, there would be a star key (*) option to request a new song.
-- k_sra, May 06 2003

Dial-a-song http://www.dialasong.com
The internet version [Worldgineer, Oct 05 2004]

What AfroAssault says http://www.halfbake...at_20Damn_20Song_3f
AfroAssault's cure for po's ailment [k_sra, Oct 05 2004]

Just call They Might Be Giants Dial-a-song. (US) 718-387-6962, it's been around since the '80s and it's free if you call from work.
-- Worldgineer, May 06 2003


[World gin], thank you for reuniting me with a long lost friend!
Wait a minute... that number is one digit too long. What gives?
-- k_sra, May 06 2003


You're welcome. They are in my head because I'm seeing their show tonight.
-- Worldgineer, May 06 2003


Could you choose the song you want stuck in your head, based on theme, genre or key?

Also, if the caller could follow a series of prompts to indicate which song was stuck in their heads when they called, then the hotline could gather vital statistics about which songs are most often stuck in peoples' heads. The worst-offending artists could be blacklisted in articles published in RollingStone, Billboard, Downbeat and other music industry magazines.

Any demographic data provided by the caller might help to provide advance warning to similarly demographic'd people *before* they listen. For instance, in music stores, some CD's, in addition to Tipper Gore's "Explicit Lyrics" sticker, would also have a sticker which reads "Warning! This CD contains annoying songs which may become lodged in your brain. Musicians, pregnant or nursing women, and neurotic people should exercize caution when listening to this CD (skip track 3)."

The music industry would, of course, react by issuing alternative editions of each album which omit the songs which tend to stick in people's heads. Delighted musicians/women/neurotics everywhere could shop for music with confidence, knowing that if they are careful to read the labels, there will be nothing memorable about the purchase they are about to make.

C'est une Bun idea!
-- dijontoothpaste, May 06 2003


I read this as "Earthworm Hotline" as in "Ohmygod! its stranded on the concrete after the rain! What am I gonna do???"
-- Cedar Park, May 06 2003


Too bad they didnt have this for Mr Chekov in "Wrath of Khan".
-- bungston, May 06 2003


Not funny [ack]. The Meatloaf thing worked. I'll get you for this.
-- snarfyguy, May 06 2003


//The Meatloaf thing worked//

me too. that was amazing. I'm glad to be reminded.

but for me, anything stuck in the system, please replace with "The Freakers Ball"

worse case scenario is where you just can't recall the title, or lyric, or singer/group of that phrase - dum de dum doo dah, do dah.
-- po, May 06 2003


Muskrat Love?
-- phoenix, May 06 2003


Sweet!
-- k_sra, May 06 2003


Thanks jutta - I fixed my anno as well.
-- Worldgineer, May 06 2003


[po], I added AfroAssault's link for the fragment issue.
-- k_sra, May 06 2003


sing Teddy Bears Picnic for Afro.
-- po, May 06 2003


867-5309
-- Shz, May 06 2003


//apparently more often musicians, women, and neurotics. (Sucks if you're all three.)// I'm only one, and I can't imagine what it must be like to be all three (my guess is that if you're two, you become the third automatically).
-- tekym, May 07 2003


[UnaBubba], I've always suspected that you were secretly a 6' 2", neurotic, Australian, female musician. That or Russell Crowe.
-- k_sra, May 08 2003


[tekym]: //my guess is that if you're two, you become the third automatically.//

This actually explains alot about Michael Jackson and the Artist Formerly (and Presently) known as Prince.
-- dijontoothpaste, May 08 2003


I've got the Pink Earworm too, but this one's 'So What?' Can anyone suggest a song that is diametrically opposite, as a kind of active Pink noise cancellation?
-- fatgriller, Nov 26 2009


Recently I was assaulted by 70's ad jingles on facebook with the intent of getting them stuck in everyone's head. (my bologna has a first name... etc).

I've learned to love earworms, sing them over and over until they die, never to return. Learned it from adopting a dog named Bingo; after months of the kids singing it every day, the brain gives it up and lets it go.

If you merely replace one earworm with another one, the original is still simmering just below the surface, ready to pop up at the slightest cue.

But this is a great resource for emergency worms that can not be tolerated [+].
-- oxen crossing, Nov 30 2009



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