It’s that time again! Yup, another Earworms Challenge, where for a whole entire day, I keep track of every single song that gets stuck in my head and make a playlist out of them. This came from an idea I had as a teenager, when I noticed that I was getting a LOT of songs stuck in my head on a daily basis, and wondered about how many I was averaging, and where they all seemed to be coming from.
So I started doing these back in January, and quickly realized I was doing one each month, and I liked that pace so I kept it up. You can read that first one here. What I typically do is include my Spotify playlist here for you to check out, and give some notes about most (definitely not all) of the songs, either explaining why it got stuck in my head or what makes it special to me. If this sounds like fun to you and you’d like to do the Challenge yourself, I’d love to hear your playlist! So here is July’s list:
This time I was feeling a little scatterbrained most of the day, so I may not even remember where a lot of them came from. And since this was Saturday and I’m writing this Monday, I’m even more removed from it and am probably even foggier. But I’ll do my best! I’m kinda excited about this one because not only does it have quite a bit of variety, but it has several local artists in it. My husband and I have been getting more involved in our small town’s music scene, and we’ve been streaming a lot more of our new friends’ songs and getting to know their tunes. I wrote a post awhile back about going to a music festival here in town that was held in April, and it was all about this. There’s a ridiculous amount of talent in such a small area, and it’s a wonderful thing to be taking part in. You can read that piece by clicking here. Enough general chatter, let’s get to notes!
Notes
Right Now, by SR-71: I woke up singing this cos I was literally trying to sing it in the dream I was having when I woke up. “She clings to me like cellophane, fake plastic submarine…” I don’t even remember what the dream was about, just that I was trying to sing it.
In Too Deep, by Sum 41: I’ve really just always associated this song with the previous one. I think they came out within a year of each other, somewhere around 2000, 2001. So yeah, I was singing Right Now, naturally went into this one.
If the Creek Don’t Rise, by The Shetlands: This duo is one of our local bands. We see these guys every week at an Open Mic Night, and we’re getting to be friends with them. I play this song most days, so it’s not surprising that it got stuck in my head of its own accord. Definitely check out more of the Shetlands! Great people, great music.
Drinkin’ Machine, by Evan Williams and the Chasers: This song gets stuck in my head nearly every day. Another local band, they have actually not even been together all that long and already have this song and another, Pay Day, available on Spotify. And they put on an amazing show, too! Definitely check them out.
Chainsaw, by Family Force Five (feat. Tedashii): The first time I ever heard this song was when I saw them do it live at a Winter Jam concert in like 2015. Family Force Five is (was?) an incredible Christian group that’s kinda hard to categorize, I guess maybe rap or hip hop, but they’re highly known for their silliness. I’m going to include the music video for this song, cos I absolutely love it, and you’ll immediately see what I mean. Never doesn’t make me happy. I don’t remember why it was stuck in my head, other than something Ian said triggered it, and I was in the kitchen, but that’s all I got.
Murder (Or a Heart Attack), by Old 97s: I’m actually a lot more familiar with frontman Rhett Miller’s solo material, as I consider his album The Instigator to be a masterpiece. I don’t remember why this one was stuck, but I’ve always loved it cos it’s about his cat who escaped when he left the window open. “And I may be leaving myself open to a murder or a heart attack, but I’m leaving the back door open till you come back, till you come back.”
Ain’t No Sunshine, by Me First & the Gimme Gimmes: If these guys aren’t your favorite punk rock cover band, then you’ve never heard them before. Or maybe punk covers just aren’t your thing. Seriously though, they only do covers, ever, and I can’t tell you how many songs there are that I know all the words to purely because of the Gimme Gimmes. Here they are doing Bill Withers’ classic tune that is only possible to dislike it if you don’t actually have a soul. And the 27 “I knows” are done masterfully.
Too Late, by Quinn XCII (with AJR): This one I know thanks to my daughter, Miranda. I originally introduced her to AJR, and she later introduced me to Quinn, and here they are collabbing (I don’t think that’s actually a word, but it should be). She plays this one a lot, and it gets stuck in my head pretty often, and I think this time it was cos she played it in the car. Good song, super catchy!
Don’t Take it Too Seriously., by Layne Denton: This is another fairly local guy, and a pretty popular one, at that. I’ve never met him or seen him live (we missed his set during the festival), but he’s got some great songs, and I stream this one on the regular.
Sofa King, by Royel Otis: I’ve heard this song exactly once so far, it was playing on the radio in the car on Saturday, and it stuck with me. As the title suggests, it has a lot of F-words, so steer clear if those bother you (of course it was censored on the radio). Super catchy, and I really liked it. I’ll have to give it a listen again.
The Good Life, by Weezer: Weezer is my favorite band, and I’m always excited when one of their tunes makes it into a Challenge (oddly enough, it doesn’t happen often). This is off their Pinkerton album, which I was totally obsessed with as a teenager. Don’t remember why it was stuck, though. No wait, I do! After Sofa King was over, Undone (The Sweater Song) came on after it, and I figured that one would get stuck in my head, but it didn’t, Sofa King did. I was thinking about that later, how I’d heard a Weezer song on the radio and STILL it didn’t get stuck, and my brain for some strange reason went to The Good Life instead. No idea why, they’re not even from the same album.
The Mesopotamians, by They Might Be Giants: It’s an unusual thing for TMBG to not make it into one of my Challenges, so it’s no surprise to see them here this time. That’s because I’ve passed on my love of They Might Be Giants to both of my daughters, and we listen to them pretty much on the daily. This is a shared favorite of mine and Miranda’s (Betsy probably hasn’t heard it enough times yet). The harmonies are infectious and the song is just so weird, and we love it.
Blackbird, by the Beatles: How could anyone not love Blackbird? It’s a virtually perfect song.
Too Sweet, by Hozier: This one is practically everywhere right now, so it’s hard to avoid. First time I heard it was when someone performed it at karaoke. Since I don’t drive constantly with the radio playing like I used to, hearing a karaoke version of a song before I hear the original is not uncommon. Hard for anyone to do it justice because of Hozier’s amazing voice, but that’s the fun of karaoke, anyone can sing. This is a great song, check it out!
Who Knew, by P!nk: I think she is highly underrated as a vocalist. Anyway, a song Ian and I are working on kinda reminds me of this one, so yeah, it got stuck.
That’s it for this month’s Earworms Challenge. Think you’re up for taking the Challenge, yourself? Please do, and leave me a link to your playlist in the comments! What did you think of the songs this time? I’d love to hear about it.
And for some Shameless Self Promotion, you can check me out on Spotify, and I’ll include the lyric video to one of my songs, Weight of the Wall.
Also, I write on my own personal Substack,
, about Betsy, our beautiful little girl with Down Syndrome. Feel free to subscribe both here and there! Thank you so much for reading!Share this with another music lover!
And here’s last month’s challenge: