What’s that song? A helpful guide to earworms

Editor’s note: There are tunes that you instantly recognise—but you just can’t name them. They stick in your head, driving you comically mad with frustration. Madhusudan Raman is here to relieve your anguish—and introduce you to some of the surprising sources of the most familiar earworms.

Written By: Madhusudan Raman is the Editor and a writer at Rock Street Journal—India's oldest independent music magazine. He also has more than a decade of experience in multiple facets of the country’s indie music scene—both as a drummer—as well as occupying a role in artist management.

We often find ourselves humming to our friends—demanding “What’s the song that goes…”, and it is almost always comically frustrating. In fact, all of us could probably sing these note-for-note and remember where we were when we first heard it; everything but that elusive name.

To help you out, here are eleven tunes you’ve definitely heard before, but the original songs this time. The source of some of them may surprise you.

That inspirational anthem: The soundtrack of every company leadership presentation, every college graduation, and every inspirational piece of content on your feed—‘Chariots of Fire’ (below) was the title theme for a 1981 movie of the same name—written by Greek composer Vangelis. Besides having one of the most iconic openings to any song, we have heard this all over the place—countless slow-motion scenes in movies—from ‘Bruce Almighty’ to ‘Madagascar’, many video games—and most notably, the victory ceremony at the Olympics. Yes, it’s that Olympics song.

From Tarantino to the Black Eyed Peas: Misirlou is a folk song from the Mediterranean part of Europe—and the Middle East (here’s a version from 1927)—that seems to have gained popularity by the 1920s. Eventually, the song was adapted by American guitarist Dick Dale as a rock version (below) in 1962—and this is the one we all know and love to this day. It plays over the title credits in the movie ‘Pulp Fiction’, it’s the guitars and drums of ‘Pump It’ by the Black Eyed Peas, and more.

That Nokia ringtone: Francisco Tarrega was a Spanish composer who lived from the late 19th to the early 20th century. He wrote music for classical guitar and ‘Gran Vals’ (below) is one of his pieces. You’ll find what you’re looking for about 11 seconds in—the now nostalgia-inducing Nokia ringtone. The company decided to use it in 1993—the same one that was supposedly heard 20,000 times a second around the world in 2009—and was probably the first thing you heard on your first cell phone.

Curb your memes.. and enthusiasm: The words “Directed by Robert B. Weide” only conjure up one song, and this is it—the theme to the TV show ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’—and one of the most popular memes of the last 15 years. Composer Luciano Michelini originally made this song—titled ‘Frolic’ (below) for an Italian movie called ‘La bellissima estate’ in 1974 to introduce a comedic character called ‘The Red Baron’. 26 years later, it was used to end episodes of an American sitcom about a completely different comedic character. Talk about a full circle!

Shakira’s smash hit: Not many people in our part of the world know who Jerry Rivera is, but in his native Puerto Rico—and surrounding regions—he’s pretty well known as a singer and songwriter in modern salsa. It’s an interesting genre to explore, and a good starting point is 1992’s ‘Amores Como el Nuestro’ (below)—which means “a love like ours”. The song starts with a trumpet part that is instantly recognizable the world over as the beginning of another huge song—Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’.

From Dr. Dre to the ‘thug life’: In 1966, David McCallum—who was a well-known actor at the time—and David Axelrod, a composer—released ‘The Edge’ (below) on an album named ‘David McCallum: A Bit More Of Me’. No, this isn’t the entrance song for the WWE wrestler The Edge (which is alternative rock band Alter Bridge’s ‘Metalingus’ by the way). Of course, not many people thought much of it until hip-hop legend Dr.Dre sampled it on the song ‘The Next Episode’ featuring Snoop Dogg and other artists—which is now a big part of music, and more significantly—meme history. Internet culture knows it as the infamous ‘thug life’ meme. 

Nursery rhyme to Bambai: The retro era of Bollywood was a time of great experimentation, and much inspiration was taken from what was taking place in Western culture at the time. A good example of this is the golden classic ‘Yeh Hai Bambai Meri Jaan’ from the fantastic 1956 film ‘C.I.D’. Also quite recognisable is the song’s main melody and the rhythm of the singing—which is a very, very faithful interpretation of Bing Crosby’s 1941 hit ‘Clementine’ (below)—now ubiquitous as a beloved nursery rhyme or lullaby.

A modern hip-hop classic: This tune is from a 1978 album called ‘The "Selma" Album: A Musical Tribute To Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’, which was a compilation of songs from the era by numerous American artists. Carlton Williams was one of these musicians, and his contribution—among others—was a haunting passage called ‘Prison Song’ (below). The flute section from the beginning of this is part of a wildly popular modern song—being the main lives-in-your-head-rent-free sample—in 2017’s ‘Mask Off’ by rapper Future.

The IPL anthem: The boon—or bane—of the modern sports stadium experience, ‘En Er Mundo’ (below) is an old Spanish composition from the early 20th century. Perhaps the most commonly used reference is a recording by a musician named Pepe el Trompeta, but whichever version you find, you can’t miss the song’s opening seconds. You know that thing the IPL DJ plays at the stadium to make crowds go ‘woo’? As it turns out, that source of either instant excitement or annoyance is over a 100 years old.

From Daft Punk to Kanye and Indian Vh1: The 70s were an interesting time for music, and they live on today as hordes of modern musicians used music from the era as samples to some of their greatest hits. French electronica duo Daft Punk loved the 70s—and ‘Cola Bottle Baby’ (below) from 1979 is the sample to one of their biggest songs—’Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’. In a curious case of lightning striking twice, Kanye West then sampled Daft Punk’s song on his own hit ‘Stronger’. Side note: if any of you watched the program ‘VH1 Playlist’ on VH1 India a decade ago, this was the intro music.