Q) The theme song from “The Beverly Hillbillies” has been running through my head for ten days. I can’t make it go away. I try thinking of other songs like “Disco Inferno,” but the Hillbillies keep coming back. I can’t even concentrate when I’m supposed to be brainstorming. I’m afraid if I try to say anything it will come out, “Black gold…Texas tea…” Other people are starting to notice. I’m getting desperate.
A) Many people experience songs stuck in their heads. In one study by Harvard researchers, accountant Leonard Walmer woke up one morning to “My Baby Takes the Morning Train.” It remained in his head for three years before stopping suddenly, only to be replaced two days later by “Way Down Upon the Swanee River.”
Experts say there’s not much you can do about it. Once a song is stuck in your head, it will stay there for as long as it wants. Your best bet may be to go with the flow, maybe even adopt “The Beverly Hillbillies” as your own personal theme song. You could whistle it when you enter meetings, wear a beat up old hat to work, maybe even yell ‘Weeee doggies!’ to express approval of your boss’s latest project. Who knows? It might even help your career. You could move to Californy! That’s that’s the place you oughta be! Just check with the kinfolk first.
Workplace Behaviorist Dr. Miles Rumphley answers your career questions. He reserves the right to embellish and totally fabricate questions and answers.
