Fifteen Earworm Songs That You Won’t Mind Getting Stuck in Your Head
Apparently not all earworms are bad
I should know by now to not even try to ignore a musical prompt from Pierce McIntyre; no matter how strong my initial resolve, I eventually give in. I thought I might have a chance against his latest challenge: favorite earworm songs. I’ve always thought of earworms in a negative sense: “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys, “Muskrat Love” by Captain & Tennille, stuff like that.
Then I read the Merriam-Webster’s definition that Pierce included in his article: “a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind.” That changed things and crushed my resistance at the same time. By that definition, “Born to Run” has been an earworm repeating in my mind every day since August 1975 (tramps like us, and all that).
So I set out on a quest for my favorite earworms, a magical mystery tour that has burned up most of what should have been a much more productive day. It took extra time simply because I refused to go simply by memory. A song only made the list if, after playing it, I had to play something else to get it out of my head.
Some of these may surprise you; I can assure you a couple surprised me.
“Hey Ya!” — Outkast.