Song In Head Game

Have you ever: played a song so many times in your head that even though you love the song you can't help but change the lyrics so you don't get slightly bored?  If so, think about the following ways of doing so:

1) Add expletives during moments when there's quiet, or extended syllables, or otherwise musical room for expletives.  There's an exciting upside to those with MC envy: it'll make you feel like you could be a rapper.

2) Forget what the song is about.  Decide to make it about something else.  Fun things to make otherwise familiar songs unfamiliar: coal mines, helicopters (may be hard to rhyme that tho), rats, integers, salad, unitards (or other odd clothing), paprika (but invite other spices along), golf (especially if, as is right & proper, you know absolutely nothing about golf), tests, origami, donuts, & religious holidays.

3) Pretend you're a different musician (sometimes radically so) than the one who performed the song.  Not pretend you're doing a cover version of it.  If you have MC envy, rap the lyrics, & don't forget to freestyle.  There's a lot more space in other songs for freestyle rapping.

4) Slow the song down.  Speed it up!  Slow it down again.  A warning: the next time you hear the actual song, it will probably sound wrong to you for a while.

5) If you know a different language, translate the song into that language while you sing it.  If you don't know a different language, invent one.  Or scat.  Scat is fine, too.  Another warning: too much scat will make you forget the lyrics over time.  & you'll be forced to scat for the rest of your days.  Or worse, hum.

6) If you're unlucky enough to have more than one song in your head at the same time, especially if they've been there for more than a couple of days, sing them simultaneously until they fit perfectly (or imperfectly) or until they make an entirely new song.

7) Have you tried an accent?  If so, do not try an accent around people who don't understand you're not trying to be offensive.  Better safe than sorry.

8) You know, I thought there might be eight of these, but I was wrong.  I am seduced by the magic of the number ten, I wanted to tell you ten ways of livening up the old songs forever reverberating in your head, but I suspect I only know seven.

9) See number nine for explanation.

10) Anyway, now that song that's been in my head all afternoon?  It's gone.  It's like an incantation or something, reading this.  I must save this for myself.  If not for you.

This I hope has been helpful if you, like me, have listened to so many songs for so long & you play them in your head constantly & you sometimes - well, maybe more than sometimes - get a little bored & feel the need - the playful need - to change them up somewhat.  Don't worry!  It's only in your head!  The songwriters/musicians will never know!