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"

whenever someone says "it's cold outside" (which they did today ALOT) I immediately think "and the paint's peeling off of my walls"

'have a good one' makes me think of Joanna newsom

Jonathan Demme's Ricki and the Flash, to the tune of the Dickies' "Manny Moe and Jack."

"the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually still alive" to the tune of Klaatu's "Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III"

black friday to the tune of Black Planet by Sisters of Mercy

Saw an ad for ham from a 1960s newspaper that a friend posted on fb. In addition to the shank portion, the ad noted that one could also purchase the “butt face portion.”

Now whenever I hear “butt face portion” it’ll be to the tune of Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero.”

Got stars in his eyes

(to the tune of "Dirty Boots")

TURKEY SOUP
TURKEY SOUP, BABY

I enjoying singing TRASH NIGHT!! to the tune of Parliament's FLASHLIGHT when I need to wheel the bins out to the curb for the garbage collection.

I nicked this from somewhere else but I still sing - when the occasion arises - 'lock the taskbar' to the tune of Rock the Casbah.

it's upthread in a couple places. a great one imo.

Thinking of you
And the things you do to me
That make me love you
Now I'm living in Exeter

Mr. Bonamassa
Mr. Joe Bonamassa

(Mista Dobalina, Mr. Bob Dobalina )

Thinking of you
And the things you do to me
That make me love you
Now I'm living in Exeter

― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Saturday, November 30, 2019 6:35 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hah!

xp: nice!

And if the real thing don't do the trick
You better make up something quick
You're gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn into the wick
Oooh.....

OK boomer

haaaaaaaaa

In the jungle
The mighty jungle
The Lion sleeps tonight

Ouroboros, Ouroboros, Ouroboros, Ouroboros, Ouroboros, Ouroboros, Ouroboros, Ouroboros,

Wuhan!! Got You All In Check

where did you get that one from?

Any time I hear someone on the radio talk about the corona virus

I recently bought some bird food that is "insect and pepper flakes"

Which is great fun to the tune of "Incense and Peppermints"

xp Wuhan has been a weird constant in my life for a decade now - first I got married there, then my sister-in-law moved there, now I organise students coming from there to the UK. So it's been in my head since 2010. Could be worse.

hahaha "insect and pepper flakes"

The Corrs, "Breathless": go on, go on.... feed me breakfast

Also, my partner uses a "Kleen Kanteen" brand thermos for her coffee, and it has given rise to a number of songs as I wash the dishes, with Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen" most badly affected. REM's "Electrolite" (also mentioning McQueen) has also been invoked, along with the "clean machine" line from "Penny Lane."

When i was a kid, I thought Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" was Ozzy's "Crazy Train".

Cos he sings Gravy Train but i thought it was Crazy Train

So now that's the way i hear it

Fuck Roger Waters

local oyster n seafood joint's staff used to wear t-shirts that said Shrimply Irresistible. so basically the robert palmer song no longer even exists for us. we came up with some excellent lines for it, too, but i can't recall 'em right now.

xp - I had a similar issue with Stone Roses "I Wanna Be Adored" -- thinking it was a cover of Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" -- years later I still hear "adored" as "your dog"

https://imgur.com/a/y2h1rqD

bang a gong

errr

https://imgur.com/a/y2h1rqD

every time I walk down the tinned veg aisle:

https://i.imgur.com/DXMGlPi.jpg

lol

Covid-19

Oh I swear

At this moment

You mean everything

This happened to me this week when I asked my son, "Do you want some soup for lunch?" -- and then immediately started singing "soup for lunch" to "Slave for Love."

Out on the street for a livin'
Picture's only begun
Ooohhh
JOE BIDEN

Also corona-related, to the tune of Personal Jesus;

REACH OUT
TOUCH FACE

I hadn't heard or thought about Cut Your Face by June of 44 in years but now I hear "SHOW ME HOW YOU TOUCH YOUR FAAAACE!" in my head many times a day

Covid-19
No we can't dance together
No we can't talk at all
Please take me along when you slide on down

Sheeeeeeeeee had Covid-19, Covid-19
I loved her so
But she was too young to fall in love
And I was too young to know

On a whim, my wife bought something called "Raspberry Rosé."

We both took approximately .0001 seconds to sing "the kind you find in a secondhand store."

Sibelius
You're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence
Daily

and IIIIIII
I shit on the ceiling
I can't believe it
That you still talk to me

There's this girl that's been on my mind
All the time
Co-covidio

we're BAKIN A PIE
to Takin a Ride by the 'mats

All masked up and no place to go
Psych 1, Psych 2
What do you know?
All your life is COVID-19
Sesame Street
What does it mean?

I'll tell you what it means...

PRESHAH!

we're BAKIN A PIE
to Takin a Ride by the 'mats

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, April 6, 2020 5:58 PM (one hour ago)

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.

― scott seward, Sunday, 30 November 2008 22:56 (eleven years ago) link

Last week, my wife asked if I wanted crepes, and I immediately sang back at her, "CREPES! Woo-oo-oo-OOO-oo-oo-OOO-oo-oo..."

Also corona-related, to the tune of Personal Jesus;

REACH OUT
TOUCH FACE

My Franco sibling in their childhood thought it was "Richard, t'as faim?" and I never hear it differently now

Masks
Wait, they don't love you like I love you.