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You now have the Spider-Man theme song stuck in your head for the rest of this issue. You're welcome.
Film — Animated
Dory, I'm gonna get stuck now WITH THAT SONG! Now it's in my head!
— Marlin, Finding Nemo
Memory Worker #1: When Riley doesn't care about a memory, it fades.
Joy: Fades?
Memory Worker #1: Happens to the best of them.
Joy: Fades?
Memory Worker #1: Happens to the best of them.
Memory Worker #2: Except for this bad boy! (chuckles) THIS one will NEVER fade! (Both chuckle)
Memory: Triple Dent Gum will make you smile~
Joy: The song from the gum commercial!?
Memory Worker #2: You know, sometimes we send that up to headquarters for no reason!
Memory Worker #1: Just plays in Riley's head over and over again, like a million times!
Memory Worker #2: You know, sometimes we send that up to headquarters for no reason!
Memory Worker #1: Just plays in Riley's head over and over again, like a million times!
Scar: Oh Zazu, do lighten up. Sing something with a little more bounce to it.
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song’s gonna get stuck inside yo' head
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo' head
'Cause it's so catchy, catchy
It's such a catchy song
Gonna make you happy, happy
Don't try to fight it, sing along!
This song’s gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo' head
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song’s gonna get stuck inside yo' head
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo' head
'Cause it's so catchy, catchy
It's such a catchy song
Gonna make you happy, happy
Don't try to fight it, sing along!
This song’s gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo'
This song's gonna get stuck inside yo' head
Film — Live Action
Whenever I hear a beautiful song
Why do I feel like singing along?
Whenever I hear a catchy beat
Why do I feel like tapping my feet?
Whenever I hear a melody
What happens to me is a mystery...
— Kelly, Wee Sing in the Marvelous Musical Mansion
Lofty: Well then, young man. Allow me to refresh your memory, in the form of a song so ruinously catchy, it may never leave your mind.
Wonka: Oh, I don’t think I want to hear that–
Lofty: Too late. I've started dancing now. Once we’ve started, we can’t stop, you see.
Oompa-Loompa-Doompadee-Doo,
I’ve got a tragic tale for you.
Oompa-Loompa-Doompadee-Dee,
If you are wise, you’ll listen to me.
Literature
LEFT! LEFT! LEFT a wife and SEVenteen children in STARVing condition with NOThing but gingerbread LEFT!
—Those Wacky Nazis, "Nothing but Gingerbread Left" by Henry Kuttner
Live-Action TV
Dr. Wen: Look, I've been attending here for three years. What makes YOU think you know better?
Dr. Turk: In my gut, I know I'm right!
Wen: We need to make this decision NOW!
Turk: Fine, then, it's on you!
Wen: Yes, it is! Nurse — ERASURE!
Nurse: Yes, doctor. (blasts "A Little Respect")
Patient: I hate this song!
Turk: Me too, man. Me too. (gasses him)
Dr. Turk: In my gut, I know I'm right!
Wen: We need to make this decision NOW!
Turk: Fine, then, it's on you!
Wen: Yes, it is! Nurse — ERASURE!
Nurse: Yes, doctor. (blasts "A Little Respect")
Patient: I hate this song!
Turk: Me too, man. Me too. (gasses him)
—Scrubs, "My Best Friend's Mistake"
"Do You Want To Build a Snowman? Do you wanna have the words to 'Let It Go' in your head, all the time until you die? Then come see Frozen. I DARE you!"
—Katherine Ryan, "Mock the Week", "Unlikely Film Trailers"
, season 13
, season 13Doctor: Clara, why don't I have a radio in my TARDIS?
Clara: Because you took it apart and used the pieces to build a clockwork squirrel.
Doctor: And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand.
Clara: Because you took it apart and used the pieces to build a clockwork squirrel.
Doctor: And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand.
—Doctor Who, "Under the Lake"
Music
That song is driving me crazy I got to hear it again,
first time I heard it I was with some friends
first time I heard it I was with some friends
— Tom T. Hall, "That song is driving me crazy"
"Hello, hello, I am thy ear worm, thy ear worm
"Hello, hello, I am thy ear worm, thy ear worm."
"Hello, hello, I am thy ear worm, thy ear worm."
— Wise Guys, "Ear Worm"
"Hijacked auditory control
Meme lodging worms infest
A mind virus taking hold
Rife with barbed hooks and trite melodies
Chiclete De Ouvido
Loops on repeat, regurgitated
Dry heaving chunks of aural bile
Can't get this out, of my head
Make it stop!"
Meme lodging worms infest
A mind virus taking hold
Rife with barbed hooks and trite melodies
Chiclete De Ouvido
Loops on repeat, regurgitated
Dry heaving chunks of aural bile
Can't get this out, of my head
Make it stop!"
"This chorus is so freakin' catchy
You will never be able to get this song out of your head (out of your head) for the rest of your life."
You will never be able to get this song out of your head (out of your head) for the rest of your life."
"#1 Radio Single", Psychostick
You'll hum this tune forever
— Dexys Midnight Runners, "Come On Eileen"
Spooky scary skeletons
Grow stronger as you sing
But no one can deny the beat
On the night of Halloween
Grow stronger as you sing
But no one can deny the beat
On the night of Halloween
Newspapers
Everything they do is accompanied by the same maddening music, which plays over and over again until it drills itself into the tooth of your mind. There are said to be many levels to the video game, but I succeeded in penetrating only to the second before I realized I had to abandon Ninja Turtles that instant, or risk permanent psychic damage.
— Roger Ebert, discussing the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game in his review of the first movie.
Newspaper Comics
Why is it that I can remember a cigarette ad jingle from 25 years ago, but I can't remember what I just got up to do?
— Dad, Calvin and Hobbes
Jeremy, I have had "I Am the Walrus" playing in my head more or less continuously since the day I first heard it. Only in the last few years have I finally gotten it to stop.
—Walt, Zits
Podcasts
Ear worm! Ear worm! GET IT OUT!
— Bill Corbett, RiffTrax
Theatre
The most horrible part is, now, I can't get those damn songs out of my head.
—Andrew Leman, A Shoggoth on the Roof: A Documentary
Video Games
Margret Moonlight: Riveting melody, isn't it?
Travis Touchdown: Catchy as hell.
Travis Touchdown: Catchy as hell.
Pearl: ♪Al-Al-Albacore, the hotel you've been waiting for!♪
Marina: NOOOOOO! Now that's going to be stuck in my head all week!
An earworm is a tune you can't stop humming in a dream: "Baby baby baby, yeah."
— Hiss Incantation, Control
Parchment can burn. Oral agreements aren't worth the tongues they're waggled out upon. A song lingers. Raphael made double-sure of that: I can't forget the damned thing so long as my work's not finished.
— Yuigir, Baldur's Gate III
Web Original
"They're so annoying, all these ear worms
E'en if you like the song
The timing generally is wrong
There's just one way to lose these ear worms
Plant in someone else's head,
And make it play inside their brain instead"
E'en if you like the song
The timing generally is wrong
There's just one way to lose these ear worms
Plant in someone else's head,
And make it play inside their brain instead"
— Tawaki, "All These Ear Worms"
"ATC was a German-based pop group made up of a Kiwi, an Italian, an Australian and a Brit. They were the accidental toilet baby of the It’s A Small World ride and Aqua. They had a couple of semi-hits, but their biggest hit was the 2000 eardrum assault called "Around The World (La La La La La)." "Around The World" was a cover of a Russian pop song and it sounded like something Eiffel 65 barfed up. That song was everywhere. It was even in commercials. You know you danced to it on a box under a strobe light at an 18 and over club. Once it got in your head, it was hard to get out. Whenever I get my usual check-up at the free clinic, the free clinic doctor looks into my ears with that ear dildo thing and asks, "What is that crusty white stuff clinging to the walls of your ears? Jizz?" And I always say, "No doctor, it’s pieces from that La La La La song which have been there for years."
" "Around The World" was a cover of a Russian pop song and it sounded like something Eiffel 65 barfed up. That song was everywhere. It was even in commercials. You know you danced to it on a box under a strobe light at an 18 and over club. Once it got in your head, it was hard to get out. Whenever I get my usual check-up at the free clinic, the free clinic doctor looks into my ears with that ear dildo thing and asks, "What is that crusty white stuff clinging to the walls of your ears? Jizz?" And I always say, "No doctor, it’s pieces from that La La La La song which have been there for years."In 1992, you couldn't get rid of the song "Achy Breaky Heart." It was the Lyme disease of music. For the entire year, it was how most radio stations told listeners that another 180 seconds had passed. If you lived in the country, this song spent more time in your ear than ear mite eggs and cousin tongues combined.
Web Video
Get it OUT!
Get it OUT!
Get this song out of my head!
Get it OUT!
Get it OUT
I'll sing ANYTHING ELSE instead!!
Get it OUT!
Get this song out of my head!
Get it OUT!
Get it OUT
I'll sing ANYTHING ELSE instead!!
—Honest Trailers parody on "Let It Go" from Frozen
It's so catchy, it's so catchy. It's so catchy it's so catchy.
There's no escaping, this song's amazin' and so catchy.
You'll never get it out your head.
You'll sings the words until you are dead.
Even when you sleep, it plays on repeat, it's so catchy.
There's no escaping, this song's amazin' and so catchy.
You'll never get it out your head.
You'll sings the words until you are dead.
Even when you sleep, it plays on repeat, it's so catchy.
—Honest Trailers parody on "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid (1989)
This is the part where we na nana
Every hit song needs a na nana
You'll wake up at night screaming na nana
My grandmother's nickname is Nana
Every hit song needs a na nana
You'll wake up at night screaming na nana
My grandmother's nickname is Nana
—The Key of Awesome's "What Makes You Beautiful" parody
So, there's Billy. And you'll notice first thing, right off: This game, uhh, is funky cool! It's got this soundtrack that gets stuck in your head for fuckin' years. I mean, why else would I buy this game again? It's totally pathetic. [footage of Noah bobbing to the beat] Aw, look at this guy. God.
You know what the infuriating thing about pop music is? Even when it's expressing the most repugnant sentiments, you just can't get it out of your head because it's so irritatingly catchy; and despite how much you hate it, or even because of how much you hate it, it just sticks in your head and you find yourself singing it to yourself against your will, and you feel like you wanna take a cheese grater to your brain to scrape it out.
—Todd in the Shadows, during his review of Chris Brown's "Deuces"
You think you're trying to answer the questions on your math test, but nope, all you're thinking about is...
DuckTales, woo-oo!
You think you're playing basketball with your teammates, but nope, all you're thinking about is...
DuckTales, woo-oo!
You think you're about to achieve enlightenment, the pearly gates of knowledge are opening up and all the secrets of the universe are about to be revealed... BUT NO! ALL YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT IS...
DuckTales, woo-oo!
—The Nostalgia Critic, Top 11 Catchiest Theme Songs, about the DuckTales (1987) theme
Good luck getting this theme song out of your head. It will be in your brain for weeks or til you're dead.
—The Nostalgia Critic, singing to the tune of "Journey to the Island" from Jurassic Park
Rolling around at the speed of (finishes singing) that songs's been stuck in my goddamn head like a week.
Western Animation
The song that you ran from is back again
You wonder if the madness will ever end
Trying to stop it is futile
So just listen now to my Musical Doodle
You wonder if the madness will ever end
Trying to stop it is futile
So just listen now to my Musical Doodle
— Lyrics to "The Musical Doodle", from SpongeBob SquarePants
Ya know, at this point, it doesn't matter. Because it keeps runnin' inside my head and it won't leave unless I blow it out. With a bullet!
— Carl, Aqua Teen Hunger Force
It's so cheesy, and dumb, and catchy... and I know every word.
— Sadie, Steven Universe
Great, now I have this song stuck in my head.
—Dr. Doofenshmirtz, after the song "Perry the Teenage Girl" plays in Phineas and Ferb
Please don't. I can still hear it in my sleep.
— Molly, The Ghost and Molly McGee
Real Life
The song has ended, but the melody lingers on.
Missed the Saturday dance, heard they crowded the floor, duh duh duh-duh...' I can almost carry a tune but I can't remember the lyrics to any song, including the inspired lyrics to our national anthem. But this song, and those notes, have been sounding in my head for over half a century, after I heard them playing at a dance hall near the army camp where I was stationed.
After I saw Annie I had to hit myself on the head with a small hammer to get that stupid "Tomorrow" song out of my head.
— Ian Shoales
I have had 'Winter Wrap-Up' stuck in my head since I woke up. Someone please, please, PLEASE kill me.
(WARNING: If you click that link, the show's theme song will play automatically and get stuck in your head for the rest of your life.)
They want to kiss me or kill me. They either love it or hate it. They hate it because they can't get it out of their heads.
how come that whenever I get Gavin’s theme stuck in my head it remains there for the rest of the day
stuck in my head it remains there for the rest of the day