Itching For A Scratch

Ah! So this is why I couldn't get the theme song from that 70s cartoon, Hong Kong Phooey, out of my mind last week. Why such a throw back would pop up out of the blue is beyond me but, apparently, it is a normal occurrence:

Dear Yahoo!:

How do songs get stuck in your head?
Tyson -- Eugene, Oregon

Dear Tyson:

Once, not so long ago, we had 'Who Let the Dogs Out' stuck in our heads for an entire day. We'd hum it in meetings, even alter the lyrics to match the situation (e.g., 'Who left the milk out!'). It was probably the longest 24 hours of our lives.

But that's water under the bridge. You want to know why songs like 'The Macarena,' 'YMCA,' and that damned baby-back ribs commercial get stuck on repeat. Professor James Kellaris from the University of Cincinnati believes 'cognitive itches' are the reason. This isn't a real itch, but rather a fancy-sounding metaphor for falling victim to catchy but annoying tunes. Just like real itches, the only way to get rid of a cognitive itch is to scratch it. And by 'scratch it,' we mean sing it until you're teetering on the brink of insanity.

As for why certain tunes get stuck while others don't, there's no definitive answer. But the reason may have to do with repetition. The more you hear one chorus, beat, or whatever, the more likely it will burrow into your subconscious.

As this article from the BBC states, Kellaris found that 97-99% of people are susceptible. Additionally, women tend to be more vulnerable. Apparently this affliction is an epidemic. Maybe a telethon would help. So long as the Baha Men don't perform.

Somehow I don't think that me singing "Hong Kong Phooey ... quicker than the human eye" over and over at work would have gone over too well with my teammates. The song was obnoxious back in the day. I'd sound like a loon if I sang aloud until it went away. I seem to recall being threatened with getting kicked out of a moving car when I couldn't stop repeating the line of a Grandmaster Flash song. I've been a little hesitant to scratch those kind of itches after that.