02 February 2008

Your Default Song

Work buddy Adam comes to my side of the wall yesterday to tell me what song is in his head (Sheena Easton's "Morning Train"--brutal), I then tell him what song is in my head ("Get Me to the Church on Time"--no joke!), and this all leads to a conversation I can't believe I've never had before: default songs.

Adam asked if there was one particular song that most often comes into my head whenever I try to think of a song to sing to myself, or for something to drown out other noises, voices, thoughts, songs, etc...and the answer is ABSOLUTELY! I've thought about the weirdness of this several times, but I don't think I've ever verbalized it or heard it from someone else. Before I reveal my default song, dear reader, let me make clear that I do not have an affinity for said tune and I can't for the life of me figure out why in a life filled with music this is the one song that makes the most recurring and uninvited appearance.

This has been going on for almost two decades:

Welcome to my nightmare: "Walk of Life" by Dire Straits (seeing it in video form makes it even worse). All the time, friends. All the time. So if you've ever thought to yourself "What's her problem?!" well, now you know.

I hope I'm not betraying Adam when I tell you that his default song is "You Are My Special Angel" by Bobby Helms (and Adam: you HAVE to read the note from Bobby's daughter on the youtube page--she'd be so happy this is your default!).

Care to share your default song with the world? It feels good to get it off your chest--just hit that handy "comments" link...

14 comments:

Ms. Liz said...

erm - "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. I know - I'm hopeless.

sarah said...

i love this topic.

for the past 6 months i've had a yo gabba gabba song stuck in my head, courtesy of the children in my household.

but lifetime? strangers in the night - frank sinatra, especially the doobeedoobeedoo's at the end.

Anonymous said...

I must now confess that nearly every morning I can remember standing in the shower my brain sings O What a Beautiful Morning...which coincidentily we were chatting about at Disneyland last night. Apparently Jared Taylor's mom loved Oklahoma! (the musical) and made him watch it one too many times as a kid...he hates it. Gosh Jared, why ya gotta hate?! I must also admit that my daily life often plays out as a musical...with particular songs for every occasion. Courtney, aren't you glad a lot of my inner dialog (or soundtrack) remained in my head? I know what you're thinkong..."What, she didn't say everyting she was thinking?! Who knew!"

Amy said...

Well, after reading all the comments and then trying to think of the song I sing in my head, the only songs I could think of are those songs I've just read about...so now, those are all my default songs. Yes, even Yo Gabba Gabba. Hold Still....Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, stop, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, Stop...Hold Still. etc...

alisa said...

you'd think i totally have a default song...but i can't think of just one. there's like a million playing all the time and they are all equally wonderful (or horrible). it's true, just ask amy. everytime i leave her a message i sing a song. i usually forget i'm supposed to sing until the beep. i've yet to sing the same song twice, i believe.

Brecken said...

HIlarious! I can't believe I haven't thought about this before. great topic for your blog. Lately, my head sings, "Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer."....go figure. Mostly I've given up songs and have reverted to just countly slowly to 10..sometimes 20. If you don't get this yet you will when you have 3 year olds. love you!

rachelsaysso said...

"How Sweet It Is To Be Loved by You" by James Taylor. But only that little drum intro at the very beginning.

Anonymous said...

For some obscure reason I find myself singing "In the Navy" , yes by the Village People all the time. I don't even try to figure that one out. I also hum some weird mexican tune at work. Maybe I'm thinking about margaritas, who knows. Today the song stuck in my head (to the surprise of a visiting vendor) was "If you want my body, and you think I'm Sexy"! Rod Stewart. Go Figure!!!

my name is amy said...

brilliant post. I had to think about this a while as songs are always coming and going from my head. but my default songs would have to be "debaser" by the pixies and "good golly miss molly" by little richard. almost anything can trigger a sound clip from one of those two songs.

tiffany garfield said...

Thanks for the laughs! I'm watching the "Walk of Life" video and dying. That's so funny! Default songs...it's so true! Reading everyone else's is hilarious. I'm sure I have one. It will come to me and I'll let you know...maybe, it depends what it is. :)

See Mack Snow said...

OH my gosh. Courtney, I'm glad I have an opportunity to share this, because I have a history of obnoxious and unexplainable default songs. All of 8th grade was "White Christmas" (I only know the first two lines), while high school seemed to be mostly this girls' camp song "So I had a little chickie and she wouldn't lay an egg," (at one point in the song she gets hot oil poured up and down her leg), freshman year of college was the Darth Vader theme song (which, unfortunately, was triggered anytime I walked somewhere because it goes to the rhythm...), and now...well, right now I'm just humming along to Dire Straits. Great dancing in that video, by the way...

Le Corby said...

The opening theme to Super Mario Bros 2: SMB2

Anonymous said...

Remember we had that raging kitchen debate about the top 5 greatest super-bands of all time? And then we debated the greatest ALBUM of all time and I said "Dire Straights - Brothers in Arms." And you acted as if you couldn't understand where I would come up with such a crazy idea. "Surprising," you said, with just a hint of condescension.
Sure, you ostensibly "don't have an affinity" for Walk of Life, but at least your subconscious seems to recognize cultural greatness, so bully for you!
My inner Casey Kasem has decreed that "Juke Box Hero" by Foreigner shall forever remain number one on the mental top 40. There's really nothing I can do about it...

Anonymous said...

"Your Song" by Elton John - but the version by Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge.