Parental advisory label for Facebook

So, earworms are a thing. 

I'm not talking about the RFK kind, that make you do weird things with bears and whales and believe all kinds of crap about vaccines. Nor am I referring to earwigs, those pincer bug little creepies that make you think of Chekov in "The Wrath of Khan" and wonder if they really got their name from crawling into people's ears at night. <checks pillow> <whew>

The kind I'm referring to are the songs that find their way into your brain through the auditory canal and hijack your internal monologue with an infectious beat, melody, lyrics or rhyme scheme. Catchy tunes, like old TV ads, can remain with you for years, sometimes coming back when you least expect them. 

"If it says Libby's, Libby's, Libby's on the label, label, label, you will like it, like it, like it, on your table, table, table!" 

"A Slinky, a Slinky--for fun its a wonderful toy!"

There are a million of them out there. I'm sure everyone has had a case or two in their lifetime.

To rid oneself of an earworm is not easy. There's not pill or eardrops that will make it go away. There are two ways to get relief, but neither of them is really ideal. One is to play the song over and over on a loop, singing along and committing it to its own little encapsulated portion of your brain. It will eventually satiate itself in there and leave you alone, mostly.

The other way is to pass it along to someone else. Like the evil shapeshifting zombie in that movie "It Follows," once you pass it along to another human being, it will take after them, giving you respite. I'm not sure what rules apply, so this may or may not be a permanent solution.

Anyway, here I am, after three days of listening to "Stagger Lee" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, learning to play it on the guitar, sing it, dance around to it--and it still hasn't left me. So if one of my friends with sensibilities that run as dark as mine can find it in their heart to relieve me of this burden, please, by all means, click on the video, and enjoy your earworm.

DO NOT click on this link if you are easily, or even averagely offended by EXPLICIT lyrics containing, but not limited to: gratuitous profanity, graphic descriptions of violence, murder, sexual taboos and generally reprehensible behavior. This song is not for you. It is not the Lloyd Price version in your oldies collection with the upbeat tempo and happy horn section.

You might, however, still find it catchy, and if you do, this will undoubtedly cause you to curse me as it invades your everyday consciousness, and you find yourself wishing you could un-hear it. It may also lower your estimation of me several notches, and we don't want that.

Anyway, long preamble, sorry. I just had to get that out of the way before inappropriately sharing this with my entire friend group.