Ear Worm/Live-Action TV

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"Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?" —The Master, Doctor Who

"Magi! Magi magiro! Magi! Magi magika!"

Songs that cross from the TV... Into your brain.

---

• The theme music from Criminal Minds. No lyrics, but the ominous music will never leave your head.
• Storage Wars. MONEY OWNS THIS TOWN!
• For anyone who watches Glee to the end credits, the end theme is catchy and infectious.
• Mighty Machines: "MIGHTY MASHEYNES!!!!! FRIGGEN MIGHTAI MASHEYNES!! ((BROKEN))WORKIN FOR YOUUU DOIN MIGHTY THINGS THEY'RE... *boom boom* MIGHTY MASHEYNES!!!!!!!!!!!!"
  • ((BROKEN))LIFTIN AND PULLIN AN FLYIN SO HIGH. BUILDIN AH BUILDIN UP TO DA SKYYYY. YOU CAN WATCH EM ALL DAY AND NEVA KNOW WHY THEY'RE.. MIGHTY MASHEYNES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Firefly: "Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand..."
  • "Burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me."
  • "There's no place I can't be, since I found Serenity / You can't take the sky from me..." Read fully, listen and download at https://web.archive.org/web/20150602185246/http://www.fireflywiki.org/Firefly/FireflyThemeSong
  • "He robbed from the rich, and gave to the poor, stood up to The Man, and gave him what for / our love for him now, ain't hard to explain..."
  • The Hero of Canton: the Man They Call JAAAAAAAYYYYYYYNE!!!
  • Fruity Oaty Bars, make a man out of a mouse...
• "A long time ago we used to be friends, but I haven't thought of you lately at all..." - Veronica Mars theme tune. Dandy Warhols.
• Degrassi the Next Generation: "WHATEVER IT TAKES!!!! I KNOW I CAN MAKE IT THROUGH!!"
• Harry Hill's song about Camilla Parker Bowles is bloody catchy. "SHE MUST NEVER BE QUEEEEEEEEN!"
• Brian Tyler's "Inama Nushif" from the Children of Dune miniseries.
• "Who's Clues? Blue's Clues!"

"Here's the mail, It never fails, It makes me want to wag my tail. When it comes I want to yell, 'MAAAAAAAIL!' " "We just got a letter, We just Got a letter, We just got a letter, Wonder who it's from?"

• The Boston Legal theme!
• Scrubs: "It's Guy Love, that's all it is! Guy Love, he's mine, I'm his! There's nothing gay about it, in our eeeeeeyyyyyyeeeessss..."
  • On a similar tack, an early first season episode has the entire hospital develop "A Little Respect" by Erasure as an ear worm.
    • And the second season premiere had 'Overkill' by Colin Hays as an Ear Worm.
  • "But I can't do this allllll on myyyyyy owwwwwn, no I know, I'm no....Superman."
  • Do ya know how much you annoy me? The answer is a lot.
  • Everything comes down to poo . . .
• The Muppet Show: "It's time to play the music! It's time to light the lights!"
  • ((BROKEN))Mah na Mah na. Doo doooo doo do do.
    • DAMN YOU!
    • Marketing department at BN Biscuits played with this. "B-N B-N, doo doooo doo do do..."
  • The little ditty that the Swedish Chef sings.
    • Bork, bork, bork!
      • From The Great Muppet Caper: "Welcome home, to Happiness Hotel!"
  • Both an Ear Worm and Crowning Music of Awesome, Harry Belafonte's "Turn The World Around", which first premiered on the Muppet Show. Belafonte had just written the song before his appearance, and when he pitched the song to Jim Henson, Henson agreed to let him perform it on the show. The result is one of the most sublime musical moments in TV history.
    • Also Belafonte performed it at Henson's funeral, it was a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and Tear Jerker rolled into one.
• Two and A Half Men: "Men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men... men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men..."
  • Oh-oh-oh, Oshikuru! Oh-oh-oh, Oshikuru! My oh my, he's the demon samurai!
  • "If your home is bug infested, filled with spiders, flies, or gnats / All our sprays are safety tested, we kill vermin not your cat"
• The original theme from Star Trek.
  • TNG's theme is just as memorable as TOS's.
  • The Star Trek: Voyager theme was kind of epic.
  • The Kirk vs Spock fight theme. Seriously, take a listen to it folks... this was the best thing about the entire series.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise: "I've got FAAAIITH of the HEARRRT! No one's gonna bend or break me! I've got STREEENGHT to BELIIEEEVE....I can do ANYTHINGGGGG!" Mock the song all you want. But it was MAXIMUM WIN! (But of course it was win, it was written by Diane Warren.)
• The opening credits of Lexx. Here's ((BROKEN))that damn chant.
  • Vaiyo A-O; A Home Va Ya Ray
• That Benny Hill song (Yakety Sax).
• Supernatural: "Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long end of the law/Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my hooooome". Also counts as a Crowning Music of Awesome.
  • "Carry on my Wayward Soooon!/There'll be peace when you are doooone./Lay your weary head to reeeest./Don't you cry no more!"
  • Supernatural loves its arena rock.
  • "HEAT OF THE MOMENT!"
  • The Ghost Facers Theme was also quite boppy.
• The depressing Angel theme song.
  • The Angel theme is Sanctuary by Darling Violetta.
  • Also the songs from "Smile Time". The one about self esteem in particular...
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "I'm under your spell..."
  • "We will walk through the fire, the point of no return. We will walk through the fire and let it BUUUURN!! Let it BUUUUUURN!!! LET IT BURN!!!!
  • "Let me rest in peace! Let me get some sleep! Let me take my love and bury it in a hole six-foot deep!"
  • "She's not even half the girl she... OOWWWW!"]
  • I'm the how to swing. I'm the twist and shout. When you gotta sing, when you gotta let it out. You call me and I come a-runnin. I turn the music on, I bring the fun in.
  • I've got a theory.. that it's an earworm...
  • Wish I could laaaaay your arms down, and let you rest at last.
  • Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies IT MUST BE BUNNNNNIIIEEEHHHHEESSSS
  • Basically all the songs from Once More with Feeling could be classified as this.
    • Especially because they loop with relatively little effort when you don't know all the lyrics. "Am I crazy/Am I dreamin'/Am I marrying a demon/ We could really raise the beam on making marriage a hell/ I lied, I said it's easy...."
  • "Can't even shout, can't even cry, the Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors, they need to take seven and they might take yours."
  • "I know I can love you much better than this... It's better this way."
  • "They goooooot...the mustard....ooooooouuuuuut!"
  • Oh, don't deceive me/Oh, never leave me/How could you use a poor maiden so?
  • Xander, help Willow and try not to bleed on my couch I just got it steaaaaaaam cleeaaaned.
  • In-universe example: In the episode where Buffy could hear people's thoughts, she mentioned Principal Snyder had "Walk Like an Egyptian" stuck in his head.
  • The never-gets-old BTVS theme song.
• The songs from LazyTown have a nasty, nasty way of doing this.
  • "You Are (Arr?) a Pirate" is the hands-down winner; even the closing theme hasn't got as much sticking power as that one.
  • Yeah, about the ending theme... Good luck.
  • "It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake..." And here is a NSFW mash-up of that and Lil Jon (though that may be more appropriate on the Web page).
  • ((BROKEN))Dippity Dee, it's only me! Boopity Boo, I scared you!
  • There is always a way! You gotta believe in yourself!
  • ((BROKEN))I'M THE GREATEST GENIE IN ALL ETERNITY!
  • ((BROKEN))Hey! Hey! Sing it together! No one's lazy in LazyTown
• ((BROKEN))The Italian theme of Mork and Mindy.
• "Sister! Sister! Never knew how much I missed ya!" The Sister, Sister Theme.
• "I used to own this town! Now it's all turned upside down." The Big Wolf on Campus theme.
• We'll send him cheesy movies. The worst we can find. La la la. The Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme.
  • Sandy Frank! Sandy Frank! He's the source of all our pain!
  • The hilariously badly subtitled version of the Jet Jaguar song
  • ((BROKEN))Gamera is really neat. Gamera is filled with meat. We've been eating Gameraaaaa!
  • It's an arealogical, autoerotical, toobular boobular joy!
    • The tune to this one is taken from "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Disney's Cinderella.
      • It's not the exact tune (probably for copyright reasons), but it's so damn close that it works.
  • He tried to kill me with a forklift. OLE!
  • "Let's have a Patrick Swayze Christmas this year/Or else we'll rip your throat out/And kick you in the ear."
  • "Kiss Kicker" from Hobgoblins.
  • ((BROKEN))Rooooowsdower saaaves uuuss and saaaaves all the wooooorrld!
    • Ya got mud on your face, you big disgrace, shovin' those sandwiches into your face, singin' WEEEEEEEE WILLLLLLL WEEEEEEEE WILLLLLLL ROWSDOWER! (bum bum) SING IT!
  • Pu-maman he flies like a moron
  • Oh I wish I was baaaaack in old Canadaaaa...
  • "...I'll make all your enemies die for their sins, and I'll love you 'til Movie Sign!"
  • "These two girls they make quite the pair / they both come from your worst nightmare / they will haunt your soul forever / and so, when you see pink, you're gonna think / We're doomed...." (From the Circus On Ice short)
  • "Kim Catrall, Kim Catrall, Kim-Kim-Kim-Kim, Kim Catrall!"
  • "Sing the praises of pants!"
• The Littlest Hobo: "Maybe tomorrow/I'll want to settle down/Until tomorrow/I'll just keep moving on."
• The Eureka Theme: "Da da da, dan da da da da da da dan da dan..."
• The ER Theme!
• How is it that Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes haven't been mentioned?
  • She's a Naughty Girl with a bad habit, bad habit for drugs
  • ((BROKEN))Aboriginie Me, Aboriginie You, We're not just the people, who eat kangaroo!
• One Tree Hill: "I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately, all I have to do is think of me and I've peace of mind..."
• The Italian Version of the The Love Boat theme: Mare, profumo di mare, con l'amore io voglio giocare, è colpa del mare, del cielo e del mare...
  • The original American version, too

"Love, exciting and new/Come aboard, we're expecting you..."

• Erm, what about the Beverly Hills, 90210 Theme? Tananana, tananana, cha! Cha!
• The Discovery Channel Theme: Boom De Yada Boom De Yada Boom De Yada Boom...
  • Bonus points if you sing the XKCD lyrics instead of anything the Discovery Channel itself has produced. Even if that is Misaimed Fandom at work.
• The currently annoying "da da DAH dada dada" Chuck E. Cheese commercial, which is supposed to reflect the "where a Kid can be a kid" part of their jingle, but the whole family sings it slightly out of tune.
• Memetic Mutation and Saturday Night Live have bestowed this status upon Haddaway's "What Is Love".

"Baby, don't hurt me/ don't hurt me/ oh-oh..."

• • "Lazy Sunday! Wake up in the late afternoon..."
  • "Welcome to the SPACE OLYMPICS..."
  • "Mm, whatcha sa-a-ay, ooh, that you only meant well? Well of course you did."
  • "I Jizzed... in mah pants...
  • "LIKE A BOSS!"
  • "THROW IT TO THE GROUNNNNNNNNND!"
  • "MACGRUBERRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!"
  • "I JUST HAD SEX AND IT FELT SO GOOD!!!!!!!"
  • "THIS IS THE TALE OF CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW!!!!!!"
• From Lamb Chop's Play Along:
  • This is the song that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on, my friend...
  • JOOOOOOHNN JACOB JINGLEHEIMER SMITH! HIS NAME IS MY NAAAAAAAMMEEE TOOOOOOOOOOO!
• The Spitting Image Chicken Song.
• The Adam West version of Batman. "Nananananananananananana BATMAN! Nananananananananananana BATMAN!"
• Malcolm in the Middle: "Yes, no, maybe... I don't know... can you repeat the question?"
  • It IS They Might Be Giants.
• "Ashes" by Embrace, a song which at one point seemed to feature in the incidental music for just about everything on British TV.
• Telefrancais, Telefrancais...
• From Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: "Ugly ugly birdies in the sky/Rangers gonna get you/Watch the Tenga/Watch the Tenga/Watch the Tenga/Tenga Bye Bye!"
  • The main theme as well, due to Theme Music Power-Up and simple lyrics ("Go go Power Rangers! (3x) Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!")
    • Masaaki Endoh turns it EPIC.
  • UH OH, WE'RE IN TROUBLE, SOMEONE'S COME ALONG AND BURST OUR BUBBLE!
    • Yeah, yeah.
  • The Song of Confusion deserves special mention. It's quite possibly the only Ear Worm used as an attack.
  • The Mystic Force main theme.
  • Power Rangers RPM, We Stand Together! Power Rangers RPM, Get in Gear! Don't tell me that doesn't catch on.
  • Related to MMPR, this awful but terribly catchy Brazilian song about them.
  • The "Zeo" "In Space" "Time Force" and "Dino Thunder" themes in particular.
  • Wild Force, a season that needs a little more love had a ((BROKEN))theme song that some felt was on par with Ron Wasserman.
  • MMPR wouldn't have been half as fun if it weren't for the in-show earworms.
    • There's battle music like Wasserman's "Fight", "We Need A Hero", ((BROKEN))"5-4-1", and "Go Fly Win".
    • The character themes have and always will be iconic and stuck in your head for days. "Go Green Ranger Go", "Lord Zedd", "Bulk & Skull Theme", and Jeremy Sweet's "Go Gold Ranger"
    • Not as well known, but still, Fly High, Silver Ranger!
    • Even the little things can invade your mind. We need Dragonzord power now!
• Beetleborgs: Three typical average kids inside a haunted mansion, just by chance freed a ghost who made them Beetleborgs. (Beetleborgs!)
• Just Power Rangers? Super Sentai has it's own library of earworms, too.
  • The Super Sentai that inspired that season has ((BROKEN))a theme that's just as catchy.
    • "Tottopatto! Bukkubakku! Gurifoozaa! Puripurikan! Saa, iku yo! Do-dora-doooora do-do-dora-dora, do-do-ra-ra-do-do-ra-ra-Bandora!"
  • ((BROKEN))GET UP! DE-KA-RAN-GER!
  • Goranger's 1st ending: Bam-bara-bam-bam-bam! Bam-bara-bam-bam-bam! Bam-bara-bam-bam bam-bara-bam-bam bam-bara-bam-bam-bam!
  • Engine Sentai Go-onger: "((BROKEN))Engine Sentai Go-Onger, Ichi Ni San Shi Go Onger 3, 2, 1 Let's Go-onger! Go on!"
  • Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: ((BROKEN))Chan-chanbara Chanbara-bara Chanbara-bara Chanbara! Samurai Sentai Shinkenger! Appare!
  • Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: ((BROKEN))Let's go! Let's Go-kaiger!
  • Here's some from the old series Choujuu Sentai Liveman: ((BROKEN))SEISHUN! BAKUHATSU! FIRE!! (YOUTH! EXPLOSION! FIRE!!)
  • ((BROKEN))JETTO, JETTO, JETTOMAN! CHOUJIN SENTAI JEEEEEETTOMAN!!
  • Kagaku Sentai Dynaman: DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-((BROKEN))DY-DY-DY-DY-DYNAMAN!!
  • ((BROKEN))Kakuranja! Ni-n-ja Ni-n-ja!
  • Seijuu Sentai Gingaman: ((BROKEN))Gan gan gi gin Gingaman!
  • The first opening of Gekisou Sentai Carranger CAAAAAAAAAAAAARANGER!!!
  • Chouriki Sentai Ohranger: "Dash! Dash! Ohranger! Dash! Dash! Ohranger!"
  • Denji Sentai Megaranger: "((BROKEN))Iku ze Mega! Kawaru ze Mega! Taikutsu to wa o-saraba sa Miro yo Mega! Kimeru ze Mega! Denji Sentai... MEGARANGER!!"
    • The English version... not so much.
  • Mahou Sentai Magiranger: Go Fight! Magi Magi Magiranger! Shinjite Future. OK! All right!Yuuki wokono te ni...Tabidatte!
    • Magi! Magi Magiro! Magi! Magi Magika! The high voice doesn't help either.
  • Dairanger's opening theme: ((BROKEN))Tenshin daaa! Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa!
• Disney Channel also has good earworms, too. Almost all shows have at least one.
  • The theme song to Sonny With a Chance. Also has two more Earworms from the show:
    • ((BROKEN))High School Miserable.
    • Skinny Pants Syndrome.
  • Hannah Montana has several, but Forever is pushing the limit. Every single song could qualify. (A Great example is Are you the boy the boy the boy???)
    • It's the beeeeeeeest of both worlds, chill it out take it slow, then you rock out the show
    • Also, 'We're doin' the bone dance, we're dancin', we're learning.'
    • Everybody makes mistakes! Everybody has those days...
  • Lizzie McGuire: If you believe, we've got a picture perfect plan...
  • Selena Gomez offers ((BROKEN))Shake It Up, Not What It Seems, Magic and Gonna Make It Happen.
  • That's So Raven: That's So Raven! It's the future I can see, That's So Raven! It's so mysterious to me...
    • Yup, That's Me!
  • Jonas: You gotta live to party, bust your move, Everybody's in the groove, Tell the DJ to play our song, Are you ready to rock and roll?
    • Live! To! Party!
  • "(Doo-doo-doo-DOO, doo, doo-doo, DOO, doo, doo-doo!) Come on everbody and Mousercise!/Let the music move you 'till you're carried away..."
  • Kids Incorporated: KIDS IN-COR-POR-ATED! K! I! D! S, yes!!...
  • Even Stevens: "We went to the moon, in 1969 . . ."
  • Shake It Up: I twist my hips (Watch me)! I pump my fist (Watch me)! I move like this (Watch me)!
  • A.N.T. Farm: Cause I am you are we are... Exceptional... Exceptional
  • Pair of Kings: We're at the top of the world!
  • Jessie: It feels like a party every day, Hey Jessie! Hey Jessie!
• The Chaser's War on Everything has a number of catchy songs, most of which are parodies of existing ones.
  • The title theme itself is earwormy enough...
  • The "Gas Guzzling" song is very catchy.
• Doctor Who: "OOOOO WAAAAA OOOOOOO OOOO-OOOO..."
  • The Master's tapping at random times. Makes you wonder if he's really around, doesn't it?
  • The Master seems to like Ear Worms.
    • In "The Sound of Drums", he plays "Voodoo Child" by Rogue Traders. "So here it comes/The sound of drums/Here come the drums, here come the drums..."
    • In "Last of the Time Lords", he plays "I Can't Decide" by Scissor Sisters, which is even more of an Ear Worm.
  • "And I started to walk, pretty soon I will run, then I'll be running back to you..."
  • "Four Days ride from the Station/And you're leaving at noon/Then your one consolation/Is the Last Chance Saloon."
  • "((BROKEN))So, reel me in/Mah precious girl/Come on take me home/Cause mah body's tired of travellin'/And my heart don't wish to roam..."
  • 'He said "Borrow or steal, I'll find a way to be with my lover upon Christmas Day. And I'll run and I'll roam. I'll cover the ground. This Christmas I'll see you. I'll be around."
  • "Now welcome folks/I'm sure you'd like to know/We're at the start of a great big circus show..."
  • I cross the void beyond the mind/The Empty Space that Circles time...
  • Not actually from the show, but related: comedians come up with a way to remember all the names of the Classic Doctors in song.

Hartnell Troughton Pertwee...Hartnell Troughton Pertwee...Baker Baker McGann...Baker Baker McGann...Hartnell Troughton Pertwee...Hartnell Troughton Pertwee...Baker Baker McGann...MCCOOOOYYYYY... DAVISON DAVISON DAVISON DAVISON...

• • The Ood's farewell. And you'll almost certainly end up singing Mondegreens.
  • "Doctor Who is gonna fix it, Doctor Who will put it right/As he moves across the universe at twice the speed of light/Back into the future, the TARDIS travels time/With his beautiful assistant and his trusty dog K-9..."
    • When I read those lyrics, I put them to The Muppet Show theme song
  • How about some Chameleon Circuit, then? "He is like fire/burning through time/as old as forever...
  • Exterminate, Regenerate is almost more fantastic after several repetitions.
    • It was the Big Bang Two/And I need to review/ What on Earth just happened 'fore my eyes...
    • Sally Sparrow/I wrote you a letter/ To make you feel better/ 'Bout the fact that I'm gone...
  • For scary Hebrew chanting, the daleks' themes are pretty catchy, especially ((BROKEN))The Dark and Endless Dalek Night.
  • Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha! etc...
• In the Torchwood episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang," there an incredibly catchy electric guitar theme that starts playing whenever Captain John Hart enters a scene and starts being a Magnificent Bastard.
• The Colbert Report's Show Within a Show, Tek Jansen, has its own theme tune. It is an earworm WMD. "Tek! Jansen! Wearer of starsuits! Surfing the comet - of danger!"
  • "Make it a part of your holiday canon, make it the heart of my retirement plannin'..." Well I've got it stuck in my head, Stephen, is that good enough?
• Monty Python's Flying Circus: "IIIII'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day!"
  • Can't mention the Pythons without this, can we?
  • ((BROKEN))I Like Traffic Lights. I Like Traffic Lights. I Like Lights.
  • ((BROKEN))Emmanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable...
  • "Just give a whistle."
  • "Sit on my faaaaaaace and tell me that you love me..."
  • "And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."
• CURSE YOU, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND!
• Joe Pasquale's "I know a song that'll get on your gets on everybody's nerves" is pretty much the epitome of this trope.
• CSI: Miami: It may not technically count... (puts on sunglasses) but who's counting? YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
  • It so counts... (puts on sunglasses) so I'll count it again. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
• Sesame Street has many catchy songs.
  • The opening theme song. "Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away..."
  • Do the rubber duck!
  • In the same vein, Put down the ducky!
  • "Rubber duckie, you're the one/ You make bathtime lots of fun..."
  • Somebody come and play
  • "Don't throw that traaash on the groooound! Nonononono!"
  • "I wish I had a friend to play with me."
  • "C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me..."
    • EPICALLY done here
  • "This is the song, la la la la, Elmo's song..."
  • "Wet Paint"
  • "And I tip my hat. Imagine that!"
  • "We're gonna play the junkiest tune you can stand, come on and hear Oscar's junk band"
  • "There are bones, bones, bones, bones, bones inside of you."
  • "Please keep the park clean for the pigeons, that is the right thing to do..."
  • "I have a little plant, I always give her water..."
  • "It is I, Captain Vegetable..."
  • "I don't wanna live on the moon."
  • "Danger! It's no stranger..."
  • He's the elephant elevator operator!
  • "Me lost me cookie at the disco."
  • Doin' the pigeon...
  • "Oh, I love trash"...
  • What a place, what a world, what a gift
  • Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo
  • Doing the Batty Bat!
  • Cookie Monster's "Healthy Food" song.
  • ((BROKEN))"The moon shines, high above the rooftops..."
  • "There's a tiger in my book, and a lion in my book..."
  • "Sing what I sing, sing after me..."
  • "Which comes first, the chicken or the eeeeeggg?"
  • "Ladybugs came, to the ladybug picnic...
  • "Sing, sing a song; sing out loud, sing out strong..."
  • "Song of the Count"
  • "Here in the middle of imagination..."
• Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?: "DO IT, ROCKAPELLA! (Yeah!)" Based on personal experience, the first 11 or so seconds of it make a fine ringtone ("yeaaah", some "doo-wops", then the bass "da-bow", then "well she sneaks around the world"). Interesting trivia: They mistakenly included this theme song on the album Toon Tunes: Action-Packed Anthems when they meant to use the theme from Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
• The Wire: A whistled rendition of "The Cheese Stands Alone".
  • Also, Way Down in the Hole sung by different artists in each season (including the original version by Tom Waits in the second season opening).
• The Mighty Boosh. Particularly the first season, where nearly every single episode would leave you with a bizarre yet insanely catchy refrain stuck in your head. All together now...

We are the mutant race Don't look at my eyes don't look at my face We are the mutant people Don't look at my eyes don't look at my face We are the mutant race You don't look alike me, I don't look a like you We are the mutant people We're gonna march ourselves right out of this zoo

• • "Ice! Flow! Nowhere to go! Ice! Flow! Nowhere to go!"
  • "Crimpety crimpety now now! Crimpety crimpety ask me how!" Please make it stop...
  • "Eels!"
  • "Bouncy bouncy, ooh such a good time! Bouncy bouncy, shoes all in a line!"
  • "Jean-Claude Jaquettie, with his jacket on. Jean-Claude Jaquettie, with his jacket off."
    • "Jacket on, jacket off."
  • "Trapped in a box by a cockney nut job, 'ave a cuppa tea! 'Ave a cuppa tea!"
  • "Don't be cynical! It's a follicle miracle!"
  • "Dun Dun Dun... PEACOCK DREAMS."
  • Surely the theme tune itself constitutes as this?
    • "The Mighty Booo-ooosh (Come with us to the mighty boooosh.)"
• Beakman's World: "BEAKMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!"
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: "Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!"
  • "Inertia is a property of matter."
  • It really, REALLY sucks to be taking an eighth grade science test and all you can remember about inertia is that it's a property of matter. Also, science rules.
  • He had a lot of great songs, but for some odd reason "I'm a sole man, I'm a bass man, I'm a trout man, I'm a fish fan" just refuses to leave.
  • "The water cycle makes it RAIN! RAIN! Evaporation makes it RAIN! RAIN! Condensation makes it RAIN! RAIN!"
  • ENERGYYYYY!
• The Law and Order theme. Not just the doink-doink. The actual song.
  • The Law and Order UK theme is just as good.
• |Cops: "BAD BOYS, BAD BOYS, WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU?"
  • Cops is filmed on location with the men and women of law enforcement. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
• Red Dwarf. Disgustingly catchy. And yet brilliant. The closing theme mainly, the ridiculously happy one.
  • Tongue Tied and the Rimmer Munchkin song?
• Friends: "So no one told you life was gonna be this waaay... * clap-clap-clap-clap* "
  • "Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat. What are they feeding you?"
  • "I found you in my bed. How'd you wind up there? You are a mystery, little black curly hair. Little black, little black, little black curly haiiiiir."
• Saved by the Bell: "When I wake up in the mornin', an alarm gives out a warnin', I don't think I'll ever make it on time..."
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: "Now this is a story all about how/My life got flipped-turned upside down/And I liked to take a minute, just sit down right there/I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air..."
  • Which syncs to everything
• That '70s Show: "Hanging out, down the street..."
  • "WE'RE ALL ALL RIGHT! WE'RE ALL ALL RIGHT!"
• The Banana Splits theme. (Tra la la, la la la la)
  • "We're doin' it, doin' it, doin' it! Doin' the Banana Split, y'all...
  • "Our little show, whoa-whoa, you know it must go on..."
  • "People everywhere are talkin' about soul, it makes you never ever wanna grow old..."
  • "Wait 'til tomorrow, we'll find each other then..."
  • "That's the pretty part of youuuuuuu..."
  • (Really, just pick one.)
• Pippi Longstocking's theme is absolutely one of the most ear-wormy things ever created. Heck, most of Astrid Lindgren's TV-shows have those kinds of songs. Like This One or This One
  • Sing-dudel-dej, sing-dudel-dej, sing-dudel-dudel-dej. Sing-dudel-dej, sing-dudel-dej, sing-dudel-dudel-dej, hujeda-jeda-mig.
  • Bom Sicka Bom is by far the worst earworm of them all.
  • Listen to "the Robber Dance" at your own risk.
• Fraggle Rock: ((BROKEN))Dance your cares away...worry's for another day...
  • And so many others...
• The X-Files theme song, dangit.
• The Daily Show has a ridiculously catchy theme song.
  • Called Dog On Fire, no less!
• Sharon Lois & Bram's Elephant Show: "Skinnamarinky-dinky-dink, skinnamarinky-doo..."
  • I am slowly going crazy, one two three four five six SWITCH!...
    • OH GOD MY CHILDHOOD. Now that I've heard it again, I suddenly remember why I used to throw screaming fits at the sight of that elephant hat.
  • "One elephant went out to play, upon a spider's web one day. He had such enormous fun that he called for another elephant to come..."
• Family Matters: "It's a rare condition, this day and age, to read any good news on the newspaper page..."
• Full House: "Whatever happened to predictability? The newsman, the paper boy, the evening TV...?"
  • I might not be a surprise that the theme songs for Full House and Family Matters were written by the same person, Jesse Frederick.
• Growing Pains: Show me that smile again, don't waste another minute on your crying...
  • ((BROKEN))Acapella version.
• Cheers: Makin' your way in the world today takes everything you got...
• I have absolutely no idea how this page has lived this long without the the theme to The Odd Couple. I was doing some work for my uncles when I was younger and for god knows what reason it popped into my head and I started whistling it. It can't have been 3 hours later and it seemed like the entire plant was whistling it, and nobody was pleased about it. Sucks for them, but I like the tune...
• Charmed: ((BROKEN))"I am the SOOOOON, and the HEEEEIIIRRR..."
• Smallville: "Somebody saaaaaaaaave meeeeeee, somebody save me And two warm hands break right through me Somebody saaaaaaaaave meeeeee I don't care how you do it." You're welcome!
• The Dollhouse theme: ((BROKEN))Ah la la la, la la da da, da da . . .
  • "I've gotta find the freedom that's promised me, freedom from our struggles and our misery..."
• How I Met Your Mother: "((BROKEN))Come on Jessica! Come on Tori! Let's go to the mall, you won't be sore-y"
  • And that darn theme tune, however short it may be, sticks like glue.
  • Not to mention Barney's background song on his video resume.
  • You just got slapped.
    • Ohhhhhhhhhoh!
  • Sandcastles in the Saaaaaaannnnnndddddd
  • "It's a truth you can't refute, nothing suits me like a suit!" (Excuse the French subtitles, it was that or what looks to be Korean.)
  • I said a-bang,bang, bangity bang I said a-bang-bang bangity bang (bang bang bang)
  • "Are you free, are you free, are you free, are you free, are you free next Saturday?"
  • "Moist. (Beat) Moist. (Beat) Moist. (Beat) Moist." (Beat) And so on...
• I'm not certain if this fits, but Swedish public service television SVT airs a show called Allsång på Skansen ("Sing-Along at Skansen") whose entire premise is well, people singing along. It's insanely popular on summers, and most of the songs are a particular kind of songs everyone is likely to know, from 80-year olds and downwards. Not a single one is NOT an Ear Worm.
  • Han tog av sig sin kavaj, sparka' av sig båda skorna, och så spotta' han ut snusen, sa: "Min sköna, får jag lov?"...
• The Big Bang Theory: ((BROKEN))Our whole universe was in a hot dense state but nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started... nuhnuhnuhnuhnuh WE BUILT THE PYRAMIDS!
• As mentioned above, Spitting Image attempted a direct parody of these sorts of tunes, in the form of the Chicken Song. They were so successful, that at least one of the creators has fled to Australia to escape this particular Ear Worm.
• ((BROKEN))Have you ever, ever felt like this? How strange things happen, are you going Round the Twist?
  • Thousands of Aussie kids grew up with this song in their heads.
• The Greatest American Hero: "Believe it or not/IIII'm walking on ~~air~~/ I never thought I could feel so free-hee-heeee..."
  • Believe it or not, George isn't at home, Please leave a messaaaage at the beep, I must be out, or I'd pick up the phone, where could I be, Believe it or not, I'm not home.
• Jack of All Trades: Iiiin eighteen hundred one, the revolution had been won, and Uncle Sam's fav'rite son had a job he needed done...
• The Dukes of Hazzard: "Just a good 'ol boy"
• J.J.Abrams is good at solely instrumental ones. Alias has its spy-fi techno riff, Fringe has its truly bizarre Dark Christmas jingle - and don't forget the 80's version, which is just plain awesome.
  • Hell, the Lost theme noise doesn't even have a tune, but you just try getting that "BWOOOOOOOORRRRRRNG" out of your head.
    • The end credits song is a straighter example, specially with that "BAD ROBOT!" that follows.
    • That final beat at the end of every episode. Usually accompanied by a Big No from this editor.
    • BUT YOU'VE GOTTA MAAAAAAAAKE YOUR OWN KIND OF MUSIC SING YOUR OWN SPECIAL SOOOOOOOONG MAAAAAAAAAKE YOUR OWN KIND OF MUSIC EVEN IF NOBODY ELSE SINGS ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
    • YOU ALL EVERYBOOOOODY!
• The full theme to America's Funniest Videos during the Saget era.

We've got laughs from coast to coast(Pause)to make you smile./We might look at each of you to capture all that style/for the red white and blue and those funny things you do! America, america, and this is you./ Stories from the friends next door (pause)they never told/you might be a star tonight so let that camera roll/ for the red white and blue, and those funny things you do America, America, and this is you.

• Laverne and Shirley: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8! Schlemiel, Schlemazel, Hassenpfeffer Incorporated!"
• "I love you, you love me We're a happy family...." Don't you dare tell me that you never have had this song in your head.
  • "Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination...."
• Oh gods, the theme tune to ((BROKEN))Charlie Brooker's Screen Wipe.
• The Eighties had sitcoms that had theme songs you'll have trouble escaping. Examples:
  • Family Ties: "What will we do, baby?/Without us? What will we do, baby?/Without us?"
  • Married... with Children: "Love and marriage, love and marriage/Go together like a horse and carriage/This, I tell you, brother/You can't have one without the other!"
• My favorite theme EVER as a kid: ((BROKEN))Step by step, day by day!
  • Which of course reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay6GjmiJTPM
  • Another theme song written by Jesse Frederick, the writer or the themes for Full House, Family Matters, as a well as a few other theme songs, which may or may not be ear worms.
• All in The Family: "Boy, the way Glen Miller played. Songs that made the hit parade."
  • for no reason here's Apu!
• We're movin' on up! To the east side! To that deluxe apartment in the skyyyyyy!
  • HMMMMMM HMMMMMM HMMMMMM HMMM, Hm-yeah! HMMMMMHMMMMMM, HMMM, HMM HMMMMMMMMMMMMM...
• Happy Days: "((BROKEN))Sunday, Monday, happy days..."
  • "One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock..." (crossing over from Music earworms)
• Seinfeld: Who says ear worms have to have lyrics?
• Monk: "It's a jungle out there, disorder and confusion everywhere..."
  • And don't forget the instrumental theme from the first season.
• Look Around You: "Hey now, little mouse..."
• The Brady Bunch: Here's the story, of a lovely lady...
• Hands up, who else sings along to the theme for Gordon Ramsay's F-Word? "The F-Word's here but the F-Word's bad, cuss my mother and cuss my dad, but I love my mother and I love my dad, wanna have all that they never had..."
• Skins has some particularly tricky ones. Try going around with Then came the day Osama blew us away stuck in your head.
• Dawson's Creek: "I don't wanna wait for our lives to be over..."
• The Odd Couple: "On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his friend Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"
• ((BROKEN))The theme of MacGyver.
• Psych: "Embrace the deception, learn to how to bend, your worst inhibitions tend to PSYCH you out in the end!"
  • To make it even catchier, they came up with a Spanish version, ((BROKEN))a Hindi version, even one by Boyz II Men!
• Wonderfalls: I wonder, wonder why the wonder falls~~
• The OC: "California, here we come, right back where we started from...Caaaaaaliforniaaa..."
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: "Day Man! Fighter of the Night Man! Champion of the sun! You're a master of karate and friendship for everyone!"
  • Day Man! Uhhh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
• Another one without lyrics. The I Dream of Jeannie theme will take over your mind.
• The Band of Brothers episode "Why We Fight". Specifically, the scene where the troops sing "Blood on the Risers." It's incredibly catchy, particularly the chorus.
• The World News Polka:

It's no viral video that people play and play It's more like an infection that you can't make go away! Listen once to this refrain And it's burned into your brain! That's the World News Polka!

• • Another version, with karaoke!
• The Jeeves and Wooster theme.
• Battlestar Galactica: What about this frakking ((BROKEN))song? Da da daa, ba da da da da daa, ba da da da da There must be some way out of here... Also, Bear McCreary's taiko drums Of Doom.
  • There's too much confyuuu-zhun...
    • "Gaeta's Lament" deserves a mention.

But wish no more, my life you can take To have her please just one day wake

• Heal me/Wake me from this daaaaaaaaaaaaay! Damn you, Tru Calling!
• The Airwolf theme
• The theme from I, Claudius (warning: snake)
• Highlander: "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we are, born to be kiiiiiiiings, we're the princes of the uuuuniveeeeeeerrrrsseee!!"
• Horrible Histories, the CBBC live-action adaptation: "Gory stories we do that/And your host a talking rat!/The past is no longer a mystery/Welcome to Horrible Histories!"
  • "I'm a Knight/I'm a Knight/And I'm a Knight/And our only aim in life is to fight"
  • "Stupid Deaths/Stupid Deaths/There're funny 'cause they're true/Stupid Deaths/Stupid Deaths/Hope Next time it's not you"
  • "I'm Knox, a famous surgeon ..."
  • "Do the Pachacuti"
• Good Times: "Good tiiiimes! Anytime you make a payment! Good tiiiimes! Anytime you need a friend! Good tiiiimes! Any time you’re out from under! Not getting hassled, not getting hustled!"
• Cleopatra 2525! Three women with the will to survive!!
• Boy Meets World: "When this boy meets wooooooooorrrrrrrrld, boy meets world! Wandering down this rooooad that we call liiiiiiiiiiiiffffe..."
• The original theme for Hockey Night in Canada. It's not referred to as Canada's unofficial national anthem for nothing.
• Most of the musical numbers from Sifl and Olly qualify, and there were a lot of them, but...
  • Las Palmas, take Las Palmas to Colorado, take Colorado down to Tico... and that's how you get to llama school!
  • And of course "United States Of Whatever", which was catchy enough to become a One-Hit Wonder for show co-creator Liam Lynch long after the show itself was canceled
  • "The Pandas are coming/ to rip off your head / the Pandas are coming / on a rampage of the dead"
• Play School: "There's a bear in there... and a chair as well... There's some people with games! And stories to tell!"
• And then there's the one that my friend will torture me with by whistling: ((BROKEN))The Andy Griffith Show theme
• The theme to Mash.
• The Catherine Tate Show series 1 theme by Kirsty Mac Coll
• Kids in The Hall: These are the Daves I know, I know, these are the Daves I know..."
• Reading Rainbow: Sing it with me now...

Take a look It's in a book A reading rainbow (reading rainbow) A reading rainbow (reading rainbow)

• The Addams Family: ((BROKEN))They're creepy and they're cooky/ Mysterious and spooky
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Wayne Brady sometimes makes up refrains that stay long after the show's over.
  • "Brutha' don't want no ticket!"
  • ((BROKEN))"Maureen Maureen Maureen!"
  • "He's Richard! What the hell you doin', Richard!"
  • "H-O-R-W-A-R-D!"
    • The hoedowns, too.
  • The UK theme tune to Whose Line Is It Anyway? is very, very catchy. That saxophone...
• Try listening to "Tingaling", the pause number from the 2009 finally of the Swedish trials for the Eurovision Song Contest. Tingaling, Tingaling, come on baby shake that thing...
• Good luck getting this theme out of your head, Number Six...
• Salute Your Shorts: "We run and jump, we swim and play/We row, we go on trips (rolls eyes)/But the things that last forever, are our dear friendships/Oh, Camp Anawana, we hold you in our hearts/And when we think about you . . . IT MAKES ME WANNA FART!!
  • "It's "I hope we never part!" Now get it right or pay the price!"
• The Desperate Housewives theme song is eerily catchy. Then again, it was composed by Danny Elfman...
• The Office: "Bum-BAAAAAAAM... ba-na-na-na-num... dan dan da-na-na-na-num..." [1]
• Wow, guys...no love for TLC for providing us with one of the greatest Theme Songs of the 90s?((BROKEN))Fresh out the box...Stop, Look and Watch! Ready yet? Get set...It's ALL THAT!!!
  • And on that note: ((BROKEN))Aw, here it goes...
• 3-2-1 Contact "Contact is the secret, is the moment, when everything happens. Contact is the answer, is the reason, why everything happens. Contact. Let's make contact. 3, 2, 1 - Contact"
  • "Whenever there's trouble, we're there on the double, we're the Bloodhound Gang."
• "Marshall, Will and Holly on a routine expedition met the greatest earthquake ever known. High on the rapids it struck their tiny raft and plunged them down a thousand feet below to the Land of the Lost."
  • Now we've crossed the line, fallin' through time... livin' in the Land of the Lost!
• H.R. Pufnstuf: "Who's your friend when things get rough? H.R. Pufnstuf. Can't do a little, 'cause he can't do enough."
  • Lidsville: "In the middle of the summer, in the middle of a park, there began a great adventure for a boy whose name was Mark..."
  • "There's nothing like a day out on the beach, when all it does is rain/You need somebody else to make the sun come out again..."
    • Also the second OP ("Now Sigmund the Sea Monster and Johnny and Scott are friends/The finest friends that ever could be on the land or on the sea")
    • "You better run, you better hide/We gotta keep you out of sight/Be careful, Sigmund..."
  • "Step right up, take a look at the stars/You're leaving the world behind/Oh, step right up, you won't believe your eyes/At what those Far Out Space Nuts find...at what those Far Out Space Nuts find"
  • The Bugaloos. The Bugaloos. They're in the air and everywhere, flying high, flyihg loose, flying free as a summer breeze. Happy as a summer breeze..."
    • And for that matter, the songs they do in the show as well.
• From Square 1 TV - "That's infinity. You can count forever. They'll always be one more. That's infinity. Count from dusk till dawn. You'll never reach infinity; you just go on and on and on and on...'
• Two nights a week was all it took to burn ((BROKEN))this theme song into the ears of audiences in Singapore. And not just the Chinese-speaking ones, in some cases.
• Blackadder has about half a dozen variations of the theme song over the course of the show, with and without lyrics, so at least one of them is bound to get stuck in your head at some point.
• Courtesy of American Idol -- ((BROKEN))Pants on the ground! Pants on the ground! You lookin' like a fool w/ yo pants on the ground!
• How to Make It in America: "I Need A Dollar, Dollar, Dollar..."
• The Big C: "It's so hard, to turn your life over, step out of your comfort zone..."
• True Blood: "I wanna do bad things with you."
• The Edison Twins: No two days are quite the same, life is just a learning game...
• The Beverly Hillbillies: ((BROKEN))Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed...
  • JEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!
• ((BROKEN))HEY YOU GUUUUUUUUYS!!!
• The Late Late Show: ((BROKEN))Hey hey! Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!
  • Flugen Web! Space Code! Twit Zone! AssMode! Check Ze Tweets!
  • Who's that at the door? It's Secretariat everybody!!!
• Sabrina the teenage witch "Shake your whammy fanny funky song, funky song"
• Being made by two musicians, The Sifl and Olly Show had a lot of these. Submitted for your approval: "Prostitute Laundry"
• You Can't Do That on Television: Duh, duh duh duh, duh-duh duh duh, duh duh duh HEY! Duh, duh duh duh duh duh DUH duhduhduh duh!
• ((BROKEN))"Kagayaki," the opening theme of Kamen Rider Hibiki. It goes through different variations over the series, but the original strings version is probably the most epic.
  • Speaking of Hibiki, ((BROKEN))"Final Attack Ride Hibiki" from Kamen Rider Decade is absolutely awesome. The trumpet is what does it.
  • While we're on the subject of Kamen Rider, ((BROKEN))this little piece of awesome from Kamen Rider Double. Not only are the lyrics really catchy, but if you're like me, it'll make you wanna dance, too. ((BROKEN))The acoustic version is pretty upbeat, mellow, and just as frakking catchy. But whoever said that was a bad thing?
  • Kamen Rider Den-O: "CLIMAX JUMP! (((BROKEN))Ii Jan! Ii Jan! Sugee Jan?!)"
    • Which matches a recurring rhythm pattern in the Eleventh Doctor's action theme. Time travelers gotta stick together, eh?
    • On that note, ALL of the Double Action songs! Or one of them that you hear more frequently than others. Such as Gun Form. (Get up get up, to get down!)
  • And now Kamen Rider OOO brings us ((BROKEN))"Taka! Tora! Bata! Tatoba Tatobatatoba!" and of course the theme song itself, "((BROKEN))Anything Goes". "COUNT THE MEDALS! ONE, TWO, AND THREE! LIFE GOES ON! ANYTHING GOES! COMING UP, OOO!"
  • Rider (Jump!) Rider (Kick!) KAMEN RIDER KAMEN RIDER RIDER RIDER!!!!
  • Kamen Rider Kabuto: "FULL FORCE Dare yori mo hayaku..."
• Clarissa Explains It All: "Na na na na, na na na na na (way cool!), na na nanana, na na na na (all right! all right!)."
• The Adventures of Pete and Pete: "Does your dog biiiite? HEY SANDY!"
• By now, I've frogotten the words, but the Wimzys House theme is really catchy.
• Seriously, No one's brought up Yo Gabba Gabba? I've been singing that damn Banana song for a month!
• Roundhouse: Reprise the theme song and roll the credits
• "No income tax, no V.A.T.,No money back, no guarantee, Black or white, rich or poor, We'll cut prices at a stroke......God bless Hooky Street, Viva Hooky Street, Long live Hooky Street, C'est magnifique, Hooky Street,"
• Xena: Warrior Princess: "In a time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings; a land in turmoil cried out for a hero."
  • "Joxer the Mighty roams through the countryside! He never needs a place to hide! With Gabby as his sidekick, fighting with her little stick! Righting wrongs and singing songs! Being mighty all day long! He's Joxer! Joxer the Mighty!"
• The Ellen Degeneres Show theme song.
  • Let's have a little fun...today!
• Heroes: "Where does it come from? This quest...this...need to solve life's mysteries..."
• Barney Miller: "Dum... da-da-dum... Da-da-dummm... Da-de-da-de-da-de-da-de-da-de..."
• What Would You Do: W-w-what what what what would you...wh-wh-what would you do?
• Flight of the Conchords: ((BROKEN))Too many dudes with too many dicks, too close to my shit, too hard to meet chicks...
• The Final Jeopardy! ((BROKEN))jingle.
• The original Unsolved Mysteries theme music. It's damn catchy, but scary as all hell. And accompanied by Robert Stack's voice...
• "Have Gun, Will Travel reads the card of a man. A knight without armor in a savage land..." "The Ballad of Paladin", from the series "Have Gun, Will Travel".
  • Sung by the kids in "Stand by Me" as they walked along.
• ESPN is reminding folks in ads that ((BROKEN))3 is a Magic Number
• The theme song of The Mickey Mouse Club. It's still used as Mickey's theme to this day.
• The Chopping Wood song from Britains Got Talent season 4. Annoyed the judges, but you just have to admit it's really catchy. ((BROKEN))listen to it here.
  • DJ Talent, who was let through for the sole reason that his original call-and-response song had this quality.
• Although finding it online can be difficult, the theme song for Australian (?) children's TV show In the Box will never leave your head. You see it briefly one morning and you remember it ten years later.
• Dallas. 'Nuff said.
• "Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier!"
• Hey Dude - Probably the most infectious theme song of any Nickelodeon show ever past present or future.
• Everything Flight of the Conchords sang on their show. But this takes the gâteau. It will crawl in your ear and lay eggs.
• Those of us in Asia and who watch CNN International are subjected to a song called simply "Cat" from a Shanghai band called Muscle Snog. It's the theme song of CNNGo, and can be found here
• This is what I do, I sit on you, sit on you, sit on you... (From Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job!)
• iCarly: The title song "Leave It All To Me", definitely.
• The theme song to Big Time Rush, definitely.
• Take a minute to look up the opening theme to The A-Team. Now count how many times you catch yourself singing that tune at random intervals over the next few hours. And if you speak French, there's a version with lyrics.
• Arrested Development: FOR BRITISH EYES ONLY!
  • Mister F!
  • It ain't easy being whiiite! It ain't easy being brown!
• The theme to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy television show will work it's way into your brain and never, EVER leave.
• The theme song to The Good Guys makes everything you do more awesome.
• Absolutely Fabulous - "Roooollllinnnnn' down the rooooaaaaad."
• Welcome to Wild and Crazy Kids the game show that goes anywhere and does anything to find kids having fun! [2]
• Are You Being Served: "Chanson D'Amour/Rat-a-tat-tat/Play encore/Here in my heart/Rat-a-tat-tat/Chanson, Chanson D'Amour" Not original to the show, but very ear wormy.
• The Sopranos: "Woke up this morning, got yourself a gun . . ."
• The IT Crowd's new emergency services number. ((BROKEN))0-1-1-8-9-9-9-8-8-1-9-9-9-1-1-9-7-2-5... 3!
• Speaking of Graham Linehan sitcoms...My lovely horse, running through the fields...Where are you going with your fetlocks blowing in the wind? Curse you, Father Ted!
• The theme song to the original NCIS. It gets into your head. And then the external flash-bulb sound at the end… So catchy!
• No one's mentioned the "Range Finder" music from The Price Is Right yet?
• Many of the songs-of-the-week of Mongrels:
  • ((BROKEN))F*** Chickens
  • Everybody Loves a Lesbian
  • What Kind of God?
  • Ugly Women Are Beautiful Too
• Gullah Gullah Island: Gullah-Gullah Island! Gullah-Gullah Island! A lot of the songs featured in the episodes count too...
• The Stargate SG-1 theme song.
• A somewhat dark example: The German television series Blut und Ehre os a really creepy story about the indoctrination of children in Nazi Germany. A lot of it consisted of uniformed Hitler Youth marching around and singing...very catchy songs. "Es zittern die morschen Knochen" and "Vorwartz! Vorwartz!"
• So long, farewell, to you, my friends...
• Blossom: "In my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shiiiiiine!"
• Student Bodies had its theme "Hey! Jump! Outta Bed..." (about 34 seconds in)
• The Lost Islands: There once was a wealthy man who had a wonderful idea...
• Wishbone: What's the story, Wishbone? What's this you're dreaming up?
• Maude: And then there's Maude...
• In Modern Family Dylan's song for Hayley is definatly an ear worm...even her grandfather sang it! In the Moonlight...
• Try getting through this song without ((BROKEN))whistling along!
• The theme tune for Blakes Seven contains more major chords than you could imagine packed into one minute of music. DUUUUM... da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM dum, dum dum DUM da DUUUM, dum dum DUM da DUUUUM... it's fine for the first couple of days, but after the second month you start wishing for a new brain.
• The theme for Hawaii Five-O. Try to get it out of your head, I dare you.
• Freak the Freak Out from Victorious. It doesn't help that Nickelodeon plays it 100 times a day...
  • "Tell me that you love me"
  • "Beggin' on Your Knees"
  • "Finally Falling"
    • The songs of the show can be instant ear worms.
• Hee Haw: "Gloom, despair and agony on me!/Deep dark depression, excessive misery!/If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all!/Gloom, despair and agony on me!"
  • "Where, oh where, are you tonight?/Why did you leave me here all alone?/I searched the world over and I thought I'd found true love/You met another, and PTHHHT you was gone!"
• In Talkin Bout Your Generation, host Shaun's theme tune for the game, "What's a Doodle Do?"

"What's a, what's a doodle do? What's a, what's a doodle do?"

• • The 2010 advertisement for the show was possibly a worse offender. Was there anybody who didn't get this song stuck in their head?

"Rubix Cube, 80s Pop / Platform Shoes, 50s Frock, Harry Potter, Fluffy Toys / Paris Hilton Kissing Boys!"

• The Thirty Rock theme.
  • Even worse when they added lyrics in the Live Show.
  • Pam the Overly Confident Morbidly Obese Woman.
• Don't get us started on Glee. Seriously. Don't. We'll be here all night.
  • Well its easy to just point you in the direction of their covers, but we should mention should their original songs. Of special mention is the theme from ((BROKEN))Fondue for Two.
  • I'm sure the original song 'Loser Like Me' warrants this.
    • 'You wanna be, you wanna be a loser like meeeeeeeeeeee!'
  • Also the original song 'Light Up The World'.
    • Actually all their original songs are really catchy including 'Trouty Mouth', 'Big Ass Heart' and 'Hell to the No'.
• The opening theme to Game of Thrones. Hoo-boy.
  • The scenery in that opening is just whip cream on top.
  • The darkly awesome "Rains of Castamere" by The National sits in your head and broods there for days.
• The Drew Carey Show: No. Way. Do I have to be the one to put this up here? Okay then. *takes a deep breath* ((BROKEN))CLEVELAND ROCKS! CLEVELAND ROCKS! CLEVELAND ROCKS!
  • Moon over Parma, bring my love to me tonight...~
• Community has an in-universe example in "Getting Rid of Britta".
  • And an out-of-universe example in Troy and Abed's rapping - "Donde esta la bibliotecha..."
• Pretty Little Liars: "Got a secret, can you keep it, swear this one you'll save..."
• The Partridge Family: "Hello world, there's a song that we're singin/COME ON GET HA-PPY!"
• The Courtship Of Eddies Father: "People, let me tell you 'bout my best friend..."
• Eastenders: "DUN. DUN. DUN DUN D-D-D-D- de de de di de dun de..."
• Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza: "Flippity Flap, Flippity Flap. Put a pancake on the stack, everybody Flap! My! Jack!"
• The Mission: Impossible theme, of course.
• Joe's Apartment: Welcome to Joe's Apartment...
• The theme song of The Office (U.S. version).
• The theme song of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
• "The Song That Never Ends" from Lamb Chop's Play-Along.
• Hold me in your arms, don't let me go, I want to stay forever, closer each day Home and Awaaaaaaay and That's when good neighbours becooooome good frieeeends.
• The corny, and impossibly catchy theme to Camp Cariboo, a Canadian kids show.
• Even TV station vanity plate fanfares can be mini-ear worms in their own right. Try to find the full-length versions of the Rediffusion London, Thames Television and 1982 Channel 4 fanfares.
• The concept is used in an episode of French TV series Kaamelott: King Arthur can't get out of his head a song he heard from a minstrel ("À la volette", a traditional children's song). He spends most of the episode getting distracted and trying to get the melody out of his head (even interrupting a council to sing it out loud). Ironically, the series was so popular that the song itself became once more well-known and remains a prime example of the Ear Worm in France.
• The "You Are the Best" Training Montage song from Tek Jansen.

Stephen Colbert: That song just digs into your brain like an alien parasite.

• The series Medium has this in the episode "The Song Remains the Same", with Alison having "I Will Survive" blaring in her head making her shout and barely hear what people are saying. At one point the "record" skips, only continuing when she got closer to the broken iPod of the missing girl.
• An episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation features a Ear Worm in the form of an Ironic Nursery Tune (on music box, natch) that produces enough Psychic Static to freak out Troi to the point of madness.
• Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger VS Abaranger:

Jasmine: Please excuse me. (place hand on Ryouga's hand) Narrator: (while clipshow of Abaranger goes on) Jasmine is an ESPer. Whoever she touches, Jasmine recaps his memories. Jasmine: Seems true for now. I have my doubts for them though -- (walks to the camera) -- Aba-Aba-Aba-Aba-Abaranger! Umeko: What the heck was that? Jasmine: Don't know either. It was on loop in his brain.

• The Seinfeld episode "The Jacket" has George dealing with the fact that "Master of the House" from Les Misérables is stuck in his head.
• Scrubs
  • The episode "My Musical" ends with the current current Sacred Heart patient humming the song she heard the staff sing when she first entered the hospital which is ironic because her eardrums going to explode is what threatened her life in the first place.
  • Also the episode where they can't get the Erasure song "Give a little respect" out of their heads.
• "Goodies Rule OK", a The Goodies' special, has them (among other things) writing a motivational song called "Bounce!", which causes everybody who hears it to perform the accompanying dance. Britain goes bankrupt because everybody is bouncing instead of working.
• An episode of the 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot has a song suddenly and mysteriously force its way into the heads of four characters. They aren't even sure what it is or where it came from, but for several days, they hear it everywhere, driving them slowly insane. Apparently, if your brain gets infected by a driving cover of "All Along The Watchtower", you just might be a Cylon. (Said cover is also a powerful Ear Worm in real life.)
• Doctor Who
  • A Jon Pertwee-era episode has Jo Grant resist the Master's hypnosis by reciting "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll.
  • Speaking of the Master, he's apparently had the same Ear Worm continuously since he was eight, when the last Time Lord president implanted it in his head. He once spread it to the entire human race in order to take over the world.
• British comic duo Hale & Pace did an episode with this as a running gag.

You're never going to get this song Out of your head, out of your head, You're never going to get this song Out of your head, out of your head

Then later, after it's gone on a bit...

The only way to get this song Out of your head Fire some lead Into your head

He does. They sing the song at his funeral. He sits up out of his coffin screaming.

• The A-Team references this trope in Season 4:

Murdock: I've had "Three Blind Mice" by the Lennon Sisters goin' in my head for the past three days.

• Gilmore Girls, (paraphrasing):

Loreli: I finally found out how to get "Lazy Hazy Crazy Days" out of our heads. Just sing "It's a Small World" over and over.

• In Good Luck Charlie, Bob describes a jingle as the basic concept of an Ear Worm: "A catchy little tune that sticks in your head and drives you a little bit crazy."
• Naor's Friends (basically the Israeli version of Seinfeld) has an episode in which a woman gets the song "Shuvi laYam" stuck in Naor, Dedi, and Weizmann's heads out of spite, because they were frustrated with how long it took her to finish her business on the ATM machine they were waiting to use. It got so bad they called a specialist, who played the Ketchup Song ("a lesser catchy song") in their heads on repeat for long enough to get it out, but warned them not to hear the original song for 24 hours. As luck would have it, the café they went to got robbed while they were there, and "Shuvi laYam" started playing on the radio... Which made them angrily take down the robbers, who were armed with machine guns, pepper the radio into smitherenes, and save everyone in the café. At least the song got out of their heads...
• On How I Met Your Mother Ted and Marshall are on a long road trip in a car with a casette tape of "500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be)" stuck on an endless loop.

Ted: I am. So. Sick. Of this song. Marshall: Don't worry, it comes around again. Ted: What do you mean?

• • Cue Gilligan Cut to Marshall and Ted enthusiastically singing along.
• An episode of Drop the Dead Donkey had a Nessun Dorma box for people caught humming the theme of the Italia 90 world cup.

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