Phrases that, when you see them, you inexplicably start singing them to the melody of something else (and then will forever be associated with that)

--Whenever I'm in a convenience store and see Tillamook County Smokers beef jerky, I sing "Tillamook County Smokers" it in my head to the tune of Michael Jackson's "You Wanna Be Starting Something"

--Neurot band US Christmas has a CD on my desk called Eat The Low Dogs which I've spent the better part of a year singing to the tune of Bubba Sparxxx's "Take The Load Off"

shit, i was just thinking about this a couple hours ago. my brother said something that happened to be a song lyric I liked and i started singing it. forget now

Because of an old "Mary Tyler Moore Show" episode, I am incapable of hearing the name Anna Maria Alberghetti without breaking into "Anna Maria Alberghetti in a taxi honey..."

My Mom is very good at finding an appropriate song with very little prompting. I stopped testing her after I fed her the word "asparagus" and she sang it to the tune of some old song called "The Pair of Us."

Temple Of The Dog: Hunger Strike

I'm doing laundry....doin' lauundraaaaaayyyayayayayaya

haha, i do this all the time. must think... a similar phenomenon is when, apparently out of nowhere, you get a melody stuck in your head, and then realize that the lyrics to that song are what you were thinking/talking about.

oh man, this happened to me the other day. for better or worse it was 'dat nigga delmarrrr!' to the melody of 'that girl is poison' by bell biv devoe. i'm sorry ilx

ahahahaha

I think I'm going to be stuck with "I'm doin' laundryyyyy" from now on, thanks...

I'm sure I have tons of these, but can't remember any of them, so I'm glad there's this thread now.

Two trucking companies who work in the Rock n' Roll touring business always start me singing their names to the tune of Eton Rifles:
'Redburn Trans-fer"
and
"Edwin Shir-ley"

"Cheese and crackers" to the tune of "Shaved Women" by Crass. Try it out!

There was a Charlie Brooker article some time ago in which he said that every time Robert Mugabe was mentioned, his name started going around Brooker's head to the tune of Eleanore Rigby. The same thing has started happening to me since I read the article.

zydrunas ilgauskas gets sung to "hakuna matata" in my head
(i can't remember whether i thought it up on my own or not, but google finds some other people doing the same thing)

this isn't really the same thing cuz it isn't a phrase i saw, but i just heard it today on the radio, so: whenever i hear "jet" by paul macca and wings i always sing "jet! ooohhhooohoohoohhoo, RALPH NADEEEEEER, JAMES SPADER!"

been doing that for years. i can't even remember what the real words are.

Fairly often I'll see something that will prompt the melody to "Girlfriend in a Coma" by the Smiths.
For example, I was downtown and there was a midget handing out pamphlets, and I got "Midget with a pamphlet, I know, I know, it's serious..." in my head.

Oddly, I don't even know how the verses to "Girlfriend in a Coma" go. I barely know the song. But it only seems to happen with this song.

This happens to me all the time. Sometimes I'm not even sure I'm conscious of it.

To the tune of Tina Turner's "Steamy Windows" : "Skidby Windmill".

"The sharif don't like it
Lock the Taskbar
Lock the Taskbar"

thread is everything i wanted it to be and more.

Lock the taskbar is hilarious and also reminds me of a couple of years ago in school when we were told to use only sans-serif fonts in our drawings. After a pause, my studiomate Casey declares: "SER-IF: don't like it! ROCK the caption."

The shower in my last house had embossed directions for unscrewing the head:
<-- REMOVE | REFIT -->
ensuring Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist" was always in my head while showering, even for a couple of years after moving out.

"The sharif don't like it
Lock the Taskbar
Lock the Taskbar"

LOL my bf just told me he does exactly this one too!

My brain can't keep track of the Cure's "Wild Mood Swings" vs Stabbing Westward's "Violent Mood Swings". And since the Stabbing Westward tune came out before the Cure's album did, at any mention of the second I hear the melody of the first.

I used to make-up the car adverts for a local newspaper. Every week I’d have a complicated ad which would take 3 or 4 hours for a company called ‘Portland Carriage’ - everytime I’d have Frank Sinatra in my head singing it to the tune ‘Love and Marriage’.

The car dealership near my parents house - Aylesbury Honda - always gets their name sung to the tune of 'Help me Rhonda'

Chaka, Chaka, Chaka
Chicken & waffles
Chicken & waffles
Chicken & waffles
Chicken & waffles

Chicken & waffles
Let me rock you
Let me rock you
Chicken & waffles
Let me rock you
That's all I wanna do
Chicken & waffles
Let me rock you
Let me rock you
Chicken & waffles
Let me rock you
'Cause I feel for you
Chicken & waffles

This could be ILM's highest earworm risk thread yet. My version of "I'm doin' laundryyyyy" when I'm checking tags to split up the colds and warms: "I'll tumble dry ya"

Also stuck in my head, ever since record store coworkers tried to help a customer seeking "that Bob Marley song, Pajamas," leaving them mystified until she sang it for them:

Pajamas
Pajamas
I'm in pajamas with you
Pajamas pajamas pajamas pajamas pajamas pajamas pajamas
And I hope you like pajamas too
Oh-oh-oh

ahahaha

omg "I'll tumble dry ya" - laundry is never going to be the same!

"The sharif don't like it
Lock the Taskbar
Lock the Taskbar"

Takes me back to my college days, where, stumblinginto yet another cheap-ass mixer, my friends and I would break out into:

"I forgot my wallet...
Oh fuck, it's a cash bar!
Fuck, it's a cash bar!"

Until recently my local corner shop was called Akbar's, and every time I went there I would sing "Akbar's! I wanna take you to Akbar's!" (to the tune of 'Gay Bar', obviously). I do have loads more of these, but usually don't remember them aside from when I do it.

More annoyingly, I've found that whenever someone says "yes" in a certain manner, I have to finish it with "the rhythm the rebel". It is driving me insane.

Argh, "yes, the rhythm the rubbish, without a pause I'm taking out the garbage" went through my head for about a decade whenever I did the trash. What is it about chores that makes them such a breeding ground for these singsongs?

Any street name of the form 2 syllable word + avenue gets 'and I'm caught one more time up on duh-duh avenue' sung to it

On seeing a chinchilla in a city farm: "Chinchilla! Who got the keys to my bima?"

Shih Tzu, that's how we act when we team up.

(there are probably better ways to fill that in)

I'm always on the hunt for names and phrases that can be sung to "Camptown Races." My favorite so far is baseball player Yuniesky Betancourt.

When they lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, my parents used to take advantage of the lower gas prices in the U.S. by driving two miles south across the river to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan and filling up there. And when they passed the appropriate sign... http://farm1.static.flickr.com/23/29589361_c80f1d9834.jpg?v=0 ...my dad would usually annoy my mom by singing "Briiidge - to the USA!" Springsteen-style.

"Doug" substituted for the word "love":

Can You Feel The Doug Tonight?
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Doug
Doug Will Tear Us Apart
Now That We've Found Doug
etc.

WHAT

A friend was obsessed with switching out love for lunch: Lunch Will Keep Us Togwether, Lunch Will Tear Us Apart, The Greatest Lunch of All, Stop in the Name of Lunch, When a Man Lunches a Woman....

^^LOL esp. "when a man lunches a woman"

I feel the lunch, baby

then you guys will love this thread

Feel Like Making Lunch

I was hearing "no shakey shakey" to the tune of "push it" after seeing this

http://istor.indyarocks.com/trphotos/NoShakeyShakey1206254587.jpg

the mayor of my town is named fung and while he campaigned I couldn't stop hearing "everybody vote fung tonight" in my head

thank god the election is over

I fear we're veering from the question's intent. Nevertheless, I have to add that whenever I hear the John Denver & the Muppets' version of "Deck the Halls," when Scooter sings "See the blazing yule before us," I sing it as "See the blazing UB40."

as i was shutting my work computer down for the day - 'the server shut down' to the tune of 'the final countdown'

There's a call center company called Ruffalo Cody with an office in Athens that I would ride past, inevitably leading me to sing their name to the tune of "Buffalo Soldier."

There Will be Blood, sung to the tune of "She Will be Loved"

Upon seeing a Ralph Lauren Nautica box unwrapped this morning, I sung in my head, as always:

"Nautica, bloody red eyes go to, Nautica, bloody red eyes go to"

Dog bags and rolling papers in the Predator scene doing a handshake over "only three left".

getting some frozen mango out of the freezer for the kids... F R O Z E N M A N G O to the tune of fire in cairo

Yes!

No need to ask
Hawley-Smoot operator
Smoot
Operator

TVP!
It's my favourite protein
(Coz it's nice and shiny
And completely waterproof)

Xp thanks … now I am singing “tax the penguins” to the tune of Rock the Casbah

My mom was visiting and made one of her old standby vegetarian recipes. Once again I found myself singing "couscous tacos" to the tune of "Zoot Suit Riot."

― geoffreyess, Tuesday, September 19, 2017 6:44 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I made some couscous today to go with my lunch, and found myself humming "Don't mess with my couscous... don't mess with my couscous..."

It’s not a perfect match but whenever I drive past the Estudillo Drive exit I think “ess ess ess stu dio!!”

also works well for the radical Italian architectural collective Superstudio!

Xp — lol same actually… but I can’t remember the last time I was over there.

"gawker dudes. what the fuck is wrong with you?” to the tune of junkyman by rancid

I always hear it to Ice Cube, Korea Wants a Word With You by Skankin' Pickle! Funny about the 1990s Bay Area ska-punk connection.

hearing it to Wynonna Judd's "Girls with guitars"

It scans to Uptown Girl by Billy Joel

Is she really going out with him?

Gawker dudes,
Tell me what the fuck is wrong with you?
The music is just starting
Night is falling, and I am calling
Gawker dudes

The phrase “fictional K-pop band” came up at work… I immediately heard it to the tune of this

I've been singing the phrase "pink pony club" to the tune of "red solo cup" in my head for a while and I hate myself for it.

For some reason I saw MTV Veejay Martha Quinn mentioned online and plate o shrimp style keep putting her name in Pink Floyd's "Vera," as in "Does anybody here remember Martha Quinn."

Also works great with Bob Dylan "you'll not see nothing like the Martha Quinn."

I have been watching documentaries about financial crises and crime and Michael Millken was profiled and now I see “Junk Bond King” and sing it to
“Junkyard King” by the Birthday Party

a little weird, but whenever i see a really stereotypical (aka racist), contemporary painting of Jesus, i sing to myself "BIG WHITE JESUS" to the tune of Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero" lmfao.

Lol … those paintings to me elicit the phrase “Deep Purple Jesus” (in re resemblance to the singer of the band) — to “Smoke on the Water”

I recently learned there is a single small piece of hardware of a helicopter which, if it fails, brings the whole thing crashing to the ground, likely killing everyone. It is called the Jesus Nut.

I don't yet have a single melody for this phrase yet but I have tried it with a verse of "Tiny Dancer."

Jesus Nut, out on the strut...

Cowboy on a longboard I know, I know, it’s serious

For the past few days “Elizabeth Cady Stanton” to the tune of MJ’s Wanna Be Starting Something

There in the frozen fruit section of Costco today....Smoothie Cubes.

Whoah Smoothie Cubes....Whoah Smoothie Cubes....

Popular public health blogger Katelyn Jetelina — a.k.a. "Your Local Epidemiologist." I subscribe to her newsletter, and every time I see her name I hear it to Steve Miller's "big ol' jet airliner" — Ka-te-lyn Jet-e-lina. (I imagine Jetelina is pronounced jet-e-LEE-na, but I see it as jet-e-LYE-na.)

Whenever I see "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" I immediately think of the catchy call-and-response riff on "Ali Baba" by John Holt:

Pitts-burgh! (Pitts-burgh)
Pennsylvain-ee-yuh (Pennsylvain-ee-yuh)

My printer told me to replace two cartridges. Which? Black and cyan.

Instantly: "little ditty, 'bout black and cyaaaan..."

should I give up?
or should just keep making playlists?
even if it leads nowhere

I can't be the only one who gets "Cindy Lee, foi passe-ar, etc" in my head every time I read their name.

Yesterday morning, unfortunately, it was "bug in my coffee" to the tune of "drugs in my pocket"...

...this somehow morphed into a mashup with AC/DC's "big balls"...

Wild red arugula = simply irresistible

lol

Mexican oregano to the tune of Mexican Radio

It's great on barbecued iguana.

Orca Bay = Enola Gay by OMD

in the cinema corner:

Wake Up Dead Man, I think I got something to sayyyy to you

and

Even I'll adore ya, my Bugonia

Oh also:

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
If I could smile I'd let you know

There are so many phrases that pop up that I sing to the melody/rhythm of "Babylon Sisters."

"Turkey Day Stuffing ... shake it!"

"Comey Charge Thrown Out ... shake it!"

"Hockey game hat-trick ... shake it!"

Not a song, but when I see "trilobite" I can't help pronouncing it (to myself) like Jimmy Walker's catch phrase "dy-no-MITE."

Partiful…. to Northern Boys “Party Time”

It’s Partiful, get your musk out
Do you want to share pics with the Fascist State?

If I ever read the name Swami Chinmayananda, it becomes the opening bass hook of "Under Pressure"

Me looking at trendy pizzas: God, what have you done? I'm a hot honey girl and I dance at the club

Just realized you can sub "cowabunga" for "hallelujah."

major instant improvement to a great many songs

https://64.media.tumblr.com/b98bba8e4dbd08fb16882b2a697761d4/c5d10ff24acf2100-fb/s1280x1920/0e847bcc2324c964ebac05ba1b0623392d86a666.pnj

Break-fast, burr-i-tos
Breakfast burritos everywhere

- XTC, Generals and Majors

Looked at that Turtles one above, had the song in my head, went to the kitchen and saw a .... malted bloomer
malted bloomer
malted blooo oo oo ooo oo oo merrrr
(it's bread btw)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F85CAz1uzHI