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Earworms Challenge, August Edition

I almost didn’t do the challenge this particular day, but I literally dreamed about it that morning, so I felt I had no choice.

Welcome to my Earworms Challenge for August! What’s an Earworms Challenge, you ask? It’s when, for an entire day, I keep track of every single song that gets stuck in my head, and make them into a playlist. It’s a nice little window to what’s going on inside my noggin, helps me understand myself a little better, and it’s just fun. I’ll include a link at the end so you can go catch up on last month’s challenge, just in case you missed it.

So as I was saying, I literally dreamed about doing the Challenge on this morning. Every weekday, I get up early to help my eldest get out the door to go to school, then I promptly go back to bed. This morning I woke up singing the first song on the list, Melt, and then I went back to bed and it stayed in my dream. I was dreaming that it was an Earworms Challenge day, and I was panicking because the day was almost over but Melt was still the only song I’d had stuck all day. At some point I’m on Fire entered the picture and I was singing that in the dream, too, bringing that daily total up to two. Anyway, I woke up still singing both Melt and I’m on Fire, and that settled it. I did end up with way more than two songs on the list, but it was still a kinda short list, for me, at least. I know there is one song that I got stuck at the end of the day, and I forgot what it was before I could add it to the list. Hopefully I’ll remember and add it on before publishing, but we’ll see.

I actually dig this playlist, it’s quite varied, and that always makes me happy. The first two songs on it have nothing at all in common style-wise, except they’re both about heat. As usual, I’ve got quite a few nineties songs in there, cos that’s my decade. I love it when the Beatles make the list, and I’m also kinda impressed that I’ve got two very recent releases, as well. So without further ado, I’ll post the playlist itself, then dive into some commentary about the tracks. Here we go!

Track Notes

Melt, by Quinn XCII: I totally love this song. It was released earlier this summer, and my eldest, Miranda, absolutely loves Quinn so we had to listen to it immediately the day it came out. Besides being in my dream, Melt kept coming back the entire day. Honestly, I don’t think it’s left my brain yet. Definitely check out this track, it’s a bop. The lyrics are catchy and clever, two of my favorite qualities for lyrics to have. “A hundred degrees, but you still hand me a sweater. Well how could I freeze, when you’re hotter than hell? And if I die because you make me melt, oh well.” And the title to this post is actually a line from it, as well.

I’m on Fire, by Bruce Springsteen: While this is definitely a hit from the Boss, it’s actually one I don’t know very well. Not sure how it came to be in my dream, other than it’s shared heat association with the previous song.

You Were Meant for Me, by Jewel: Initially, Foolish Games entered my brain, I don’t remember why, but it didn’t stay there long enough to make the list, because I immediately switched to this one. I like this one a lot better. I might try it at karaoke sometime. I had to make sure to get the right version for the playlist, cos the one played on the radio is better than the album version, in my opinion anyway, and that’s the one I was singing.

The Swiss Army Romance, by Dashboard Confessional: I’ve been on a bit of a Dashboard kick lately, not sure why. Chris Carrabba posts regularly on Instagram, often lately he will play guitar and sing one of their older songs, and I think that’s what happened here. Great track about how when we’re young adults, we’re still so dead set on trying to make everyone think we’re cool. “We’re not twenty-one, but the sooner we are, the sooner the fun can begin.”

Ironic, by Alanis Morissette: I don’t remember why I was singing this, but all hail Alanis!

Here Comes the Sun, by the Beatles: This is an significant track for me cos I’ve recently made an important distinction for it. This is Betsy’s Official Beatles Song. What do I mean by this? Well, my elder daughter has always had an Official Beatles Song, Across the Universe, because that song was stuck in my head the night I found out I was pregnant with her. Imagine constantly singing, “Nothing’s gonna change my world,” and then seeing a positive pregnancy test. The irony was just too beautiful. I’ve always shared Beatles songs with her, and she’s always been a fan. Since Betsy was born, I’ve been wanting her to have a special Beatles song, too, and I’ve only recently decided on this one. It’s even more convenient that it is part of Miranda’s marching band halftime show this season, so that’s fun. Anyway, I decided on this song because I’m always referring to her (especially in the morning when she wakes up) as “little darlin’,” so it gets stuck in my head from there on the regular, and also she has a bib she wears sometimes that says, “here comes the fun,” which also gets it stuck in my head. This is the perfect song for Betsy. Just in case you want to read more about my special baby girl, I also write a Substack called

Kristen’s Upside Downs

, all about raising a Down Syndrome child as non-medically as possible.

Peaches, by the Presidents of the United States of America: This got stuck in my head solely from a meme I saw (below), and of course sent to my husband, cos that’s how we flirt. Gotta love how unapologetically weird the Presidents are. And the natural progression from singing one song about peaches is singing this next one (especialy given that it automatically comes up in the search).

Peaches, by Jack Black: Ok, I didn’t even see the newest Super Mario movie, but Jack Black playing Bowser was just a perfect move. I only know this song from kids singing it at karaoke, and I immediately thought it was hilarious and classically Jack Black. I am going to include the music video cos it’s great. Unless you don’t find Jack funny, in which case, you’ll think this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever seen. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Alive, by P.O.D.: This song got stuck in my head cos another song reminded me of it. I don’t even know what the other one was, other than it was from fellow rap-rocker Manafest’s ad on Instagram, and it kinda sounded like Alive. I recommend checking out both P.O.D. and Manafest if you haven’t.

Courtesy Call, by Thousand Foot Krutch: I absolutely LOVE me some TFK. They’ve recently been releasing re-imagined versions of all the songs from The End is Where We Begin, all featuring other artists. That particular album is what made me fall in love with Thousand Foot Krutch in the first place. Their newest reissued song is Courtesy Call, featuring SVRCINA, but the version I got stuck in my head was the original, thanks to a post (about the new one) on Instagram. Check out both this one and the Reignited version!

Seasons & Narcissus, by Bastille: This one lives in my head constantly lately, as it’s their newest single and I see posts about it on Instagram daily. I absolutely love Bastille, and Dan’s voice is one of a kind. This is a great song! “Is this real love I’m falling in, I’m falling in?”

Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane: This is a song my daughter Miranda loves (which makes sense, it is great and it is from her very early childhood), and she was playing it in the car. For some reason I’ve always associated it with Carolina Liar’s Show Me What I’m Looking For.

Kodachrome, by Paul Simon: I grew up listening to Paul Simon. On long family roadtrips, it was always cassettes by the Beach Boys, Paul Simon, and Simon & Garfunkel. Kodachrome got stuck in my head thanks to Open Mic Night, which Ian and I go to every Wednesday night, and one of the regular acts was playing this song. They also played…

Santeria, by Sublime: I don’t care who you are, this song is impossible to dislike. Sooo infectiously catchy, as Sublime tracks typically are. That’s what they were playing when we left Open Mic Night, and the whole place was singing along, cos how could anybody not?

My Calling, by AJR: Not at all surprising to have an AJR track on here, ever, since they’re my daughter’s favorite band (and one of mine). This one is off their debut album, Living Room, which admittedly is the album I’m least familiar with. It has a lot of great songs, and I do recommend checking it out. My Calling is one that M was playing in the car, and it’s funny cos for some reason I always want to sing the words wrong. Instead of “I’m coming up, it might be my calling, my calling,” I have to stop myself from singing, “my karma, my karma.” And Karma is a completely different AJR song. Oh well.

Beetlejuice—The Animated Series—Main Theme: I almost put the wrong song on the playlist because I had this theme stuck for awhile before I realized it was the Animated Series theme, and not the movie theme. Beetlejuice was my favorite movie for awhile as a kid, and Miranda followed in my footsteps, immediately declaring it her favorite after watching it for the first time a four or five years back. We are both super excited about the sequel coming out next month! However, a lot of people have missed out on the wonder that was the Animated Series, which I watched every Saturday morning (oh, the absolute joy of Saturday morning cartoons!) and I think eventually it was on daily after school. I have the whole series on dvd now so my girls can enjoy it along with me. It’s probably streaming on one service or another, because isn’t everything?

Well, I never did remember that last song that was stuck in my head while I was getting ready for bed. I just know it was a good one.

That’s it for this month’s Challenge! Gotta be the shortest one so far. How bout you? Will you take the Earworms Challenge and make us a playlist? I’d love to hear the songs that get stuck in your head! Take the Challenge and post a link to your playlist in the comments.

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Did you miss last month’s? Well here it is: