This Song Got Stuck In My Head

Five super-annoying earworms and the antidotes to treat them

Photo by Sammy Williams on Unsplash

This song got stuck in my head: “I Love the Nightlife” by Alicia Bridges. Heard it on the radio, my wife started singing it, and I made the further mistake of thinking about the lyrics. Doomed. It played in my head non-stop for four days. An earworm, they call it.

I have a soundtrack playing in the back of my head all the time. Mostly it’s stuff I like but occasionally an obnoxious song wedges its way into the rotation and becomes the only thing playing. What then?

Antidotes
Trying not to think of a song is like trying not to think of a pink elephant. The only real cures for an earworm are time and the right antidote song.

An antidote song must be powerful enough to take over the soundtrack and play continuously. If you’re so oriented, the “Blue Danube” or Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” are excellent. “Hard Habit to Break” by Chicago works well for me.

The song I used to dislodge “Nightlife” is an oldie by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (Gamble and Huff, composers) features the incomparable Teddy Pendergrass on lead and packs enough of an emotional wallop to send any earworm packing.