Songs that stick

I have this habit of listening to a song over and over again until it bores me out. There are times when some songs just linger on in the inner corridors of my brain. They make me sing voluntarily, involuntarily and repetitively to the point of embarrassment. There are several songs that got stuck in my head some that I passed the fever to someone else to my own detriment.

It was probably 1996 and I was in my second year of my bachelors degree. I managed to gain access to a computer lab as part of the research project I enrolled under a professor. As I started spending more time at the lab, I got friendly with the lab maintenance guy who would lend me his collection of music CDs. The CDs were ofcourse donated by the users of the lab. The lab manager was one smart guy. He would let the new users listen to the cds that he had collected over time. After a few months he would induce the users, who are old now, to buy new CDs and donate to the lab for common use. Nothing wrong with that, but he was dealing with a new beast here. So I would borrow the CDs from him and play the music in the computer I was using. I liked the music of Kishore Kumar and one song stuck on me. The song was 'Oh Mere Dil ke Chain'(can't translate to english without making it look funny, so I will refrain) from the movie Mere Jeevan Saathi.

Mere Jeevan Saathi (1972) - O Mere Dil Ke Chain by Kishore Kumar.

I didn't know much Hindi then, nor do I do now but I think I am better. I still get mixed with the gender of objects. I think it was the easy lyrics and repetitive nature of the title verse that made it sticky. I would repeat the song over and over again. It appears that song went viral and everyone who was coming to the lab was either playing the song on CD or were humming it when coming to and going out of the lab. Virus effects the person most likely to be exposed. In the case of the 'Dil Ke Chain' virus our poor lab manager was most exposed to it. He got bit by the Dil Ke Chain bug and he would listen to the song on his way home until one day disaster struck. He met with an accident while going home from work. Apparently he was trying to repeat the song on his CD player and got distracted fell off his bike. He broke his arm and had it in a sling. After a week of absence he returned to the lab taking rides from my fellow students as he was unable to ride his two wheeler scooter anymore. He forbade me from playing songs in the lab from that time onwards.

Having been forbidden from playing songs at school, I tuned myself to listening music at home. There used to be a small music store(more of a shack) at the end of the street. They would record songs of your choice onto to 60mins tape cassette. I made myself a list of 12 songs onto an old cassette we had at home. Of all the 12 songs the most I played was this song 'Chappa Chappa' (no idea what that means) from the movie Maachis by Gulzar.

Maachis (1996) - Chappa Chappa, Sung by Hariharan and Suresh Wadkar, Composed by Vishal Bharadwaj, Lyrics by Gulzar

Again I hardly understood half of the lyrics(I dont even now) as most of the verses are in language I don't understand. I don't know if it is Punjabi or Kashmiri, because I know that only few lines of the song are in Hindi. But the catchy Chappa Chappa caught with me and I repeated that song for a long time. It was only time before I irritated someone and it was my Mom this time. One day she took the cassette out and said 'Chappa Chappa ani enni sarlu ra Chetta pata' or something like that. From there it was a slippery slope for my chappa song and it slipped out of my brain.

During the third year of my engineering, I went to Bangalore with a bunch of my friends for an exam. One of my classmates was into English movies a lot. It was the time when Pierce Brosnon was being introduced as the new James Bond and the movie was Golden Eye. On the day after the exam, I borrowed the cassette from my friend and was listening to the soundtrack from Golden Eye. I was most impressed with the title track.
James Bond - Goldeneye Opening Theme

I couldn't get the lyrics of most English songs those days. But this song was different. I could get the verses very well and repeated that song to death. Imagine me singing 'See the reflections in the water' doing the husky female voice over. Apparently I had hummed the song aloud and awoke my classmate who was also sharing the room then. He lamented to me as to why I would sing the same song and not change it. I did not get the golden eye but my classmate did get a red eye. He slept all along the return journey in the train.

Fast forward couple more years to the year 1999. It was the first semester of my graduate studies at WVU. Internet was growing fast and all sorts of services were being provided for free but the search engines were pathetic. Anyone remember askjeeves.com or altavista.com? Google did not make it big yet. So finding stuff on the internet was not as easy as it is today. During those days, I don't know why but I could not recollect a song from the movie Antham(translation - the end). I had asked that to a friend who was also a new graduate student at WVU and was my neighbor then. He could not recollect the song immediately. Few weeks later my friend came to me and told me that he had been looking for that song for several weeks on the internet and that he had found a site where I could listen to the song. That site is Raaga and I visit the site whenever I look for Indian music. The song is titled 'Nee navvu cheppindi naku'(translation - Your smile told) - a slow romantic melody.
Antham(1990) - Nee Navvu Cheppindi Naatho by S.P.Balasubramayam, Lyrics: Siri Vennela Sitarama Sastry and Composed by R.D.Burman

I thanked my friend and that song stuck on me for a long time that semester. My friend though switched to LSU a semester later. I didn't expect the distraction that I passed on to him would have such impact on my friend. Well it might not have been the reason, but it makes for a good story and I am sticking to it. At least he went to a better football team.

After many such haunting songs and a decade later we reach to the end of 2009 where I am stuck with my current sticky song. It is an old song from the movie Tezaab in which Madhuri Dixit rose to stardom with the song Ek Do Teen. The song I got stuck with is a different one. It is a slow crooner by Nitin Mukesh titled 'So gaya yeh jahan'(Transaltion - the world is asleep).
Tezaab(1988) - So gaya yeh jahan by Nitin Mukesh and Lyrics by Javed Akhtar

I dont know how and why I looked up this song but I had listened to it for a day or so. I managed to pass it on to my wife. It has been about a month since I played the song online and it still hasn't left my home. I am thinking, yes the world is asleep and so should this song, but it hasn't yet.

While Nitin Mukesh soul is doing rounds in my home, I decided to look up on what makes these songs stick. Almost everyone goes through this song stickiness. It is as if some songs get stuck in the haunted chambers of our brains. Not surprisingly research has been done on such songs. They call such song an earworm - a very creepy name. They say that some songs on repeatedly listening to them creates, what these researchers call, a 'cognitive itch'. It is like a regular itch and one way to sooth yourself is to 'scratch the itch' by listening again to the song or humming it. This creates a feedback loop - repetition creates the itch, scratching by humming or listening the song soothes the itch and on and one again. Here are some links for more information on it.

Why do songs get stuck in my head?
Songs That Cause The Brain To 'Itch': UC Professor Investigating Why Certain Tunes Get Stuck In Our Heads
Songs Stick in Everyone's Head
Researcher confirms existence of 'earworms' / 98% of people have had songs stuck in their head

The more simple the song and easy to repeat the more is the likelyhood of the song being stuck. So even mediocre songs can get stuck like Billy Ray Cryus' only known hit Achy Breaky Heart. He is now known as a father of a famous teenage star Miley Cyrus than for his musical career.
Billie ray cyrus & miley cyrus - achy breaky heart , get ready , get set , Don't go


But so much for the research, nobody knows how to get rid of them. But luckily it is not a serious affliction. Most of us get out of them one way or the other. So I end this post with a tribute to all such songs and to their makers - 'Can't get you out of my head' by Kylie Minogue.

Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head

Top Bollywood Dance Songs of All Time

Here is the list of my Top Ten Hindi Party Dance Songs. The list below is only in Chronological order. It does not represent my preference of one over the other.
Mauja Mauja(Mika Singh) - Jab We Met(2007). I have a funny story about this song. I was at an event in a Children's library where a group of Indians were presenting to a class of kids and interesting locals about Indian Classical Dance forms. They belonged to a local Classical Indian Dance schools and the kids from the school did some Bharat Natyam and Koochupudi as part of the event to teach the local public about India and it's dance forms. That was all fine. In the end the teacher of the kids tells the audience that there is another popular dance form called Bollywood Dance and put in a DVD and played this song from the movie Jab We Met. I was surprised at the selection of this song which is no way close to being Indian Dance form. It was closer to a Hip Hop song with semi-clad women strutting around the leads-very much inspired from Hip Hop. I am not complaining about the popular music as most Classical Music Aficionados(like Sankara Sastry of Sankarabaranam) do. I think it was just a wrong choice for a wrong audience who were mostly kids. Also this happens to be one of the most popular songs of recent times and hence on top of the list. Not my most favorite.


Ek Mein aur ek tu hai(Abhishek Bachan, Sunidhi Chauhan) - Bluffmaster(2005). I like this song beacuse it is true hip-hop version in Hindi. It has the 1-2-3 beat that makes your foot tap and want to be the in the center of the floor with your lady. Abhishek's voice suits well to this type for songs and the dance moves fit the tone of the song. Sunidhi Chauhan is my favorite singer in the current generation, though she doesn't have much in his song, except to croon a line or two along side Abhishek. The next song will display her full potential.


Saaki(Sukhwindher Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan) - Musafir(2004). I like the beat and dance steps in this song. I like all the songs of this movie. I saw them first when they were repeated over and over on TV during my visit to India way back in 2004. Some of the moves are not meant for family audience but the song is great nevertheless. Gives me a jolt every time I listen to this song. And I love Sunidhi's voice. She is best of the current generation especially when it comes to high energy songs. She has great control over her voice and displays good skill in high octane, high pitch songs. Sukhwinder has become monotonous with these kinds of songs, but he was still fresh in 2004. Shh..Nobody tell but I lost my heart to Sameera Reddy while watching the songs from this movie. The dancer in the song is Koena Mitra and the other dude is Sanju Baba aka Sanjay Dutt.


Khallas(Asha Bhosle, Sudhesh Bhosle, Sapna Awasthi) - Company(2002). I like the recklessness in this song which was the last good movie from Ram Gopal Varma. He became a fast food chain offering quick junk movies from a gourmet restaurant offering sumptuous selective meals after this movie. The song fits well with what is happening at the moment in the movie. Asha Bhonsle appears old and not suited for this song, but Sapna Awasthi provides the much needed salvo. Sunidhi Chauhan would have been an appropriate singer for this song instead of Asha ji. I think it is time for the Mangeskar sisters to retire. I was very impressed by the movie making capabilities of RGV and must have watched it several times repeatedly in 2002. For those who dont know, Asha Bonsle is the singer and not the dancer. The Dancer is Isha Koppikar.


Babuji Zara Deere Chalo(Sukhwinder Singh , Sonu Kakkar) - Dum(2002). The movie sucks, the song is for mature audience only. This song made the list - courtesy Yana Gupta.


Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe(Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, K.K) - Dil Chahta Hai(2001). I must have seen this movie alteast 20 times. It was one of the biggest movie of our time and was a trend setter. I even imitated Amir's goatee. Great Movie, great Song by the trio and great dance moves. Simple and elegant, just made for closing time of the dance floor.


Ek Pal Ka Jeena(Lucky Ali) - Kaho Na Pyar Hai(2000). This movie catapulted Hritik Roshan to a huge star overnight. He displays amazing dance skills that was sorely missing from Hindi Movie Industry then. The Industry for all it's glory still lacks a good dancer and will find nothing but vaccuum if you take away Hritik now. The tight dress and group behind him appear comical now. The one dance move from this song has become his signature move. Alas he still awaits a hit suitable to his talent and skill. The singer, Lucky Ali, obtained so much fame that he became a movie star himself and then he disappeared.


Khambakht Ishq(Sukhwinder Singh , Asha Bhonsle , Sonu Nigam) - Pyar Tune Kya Kiya(2001). The movie is pardonable and was only a curtain raiser of what was to come from RGV Factory. The song is in the list for the choreography. Great moves, good use of the red fabric and the limited skills of the Khan. Urmila is great in her dancing skills. Did I say Asha Bhonsle should retire. Actually this song is not that bad as her vocal chords were still working then.

Edit 08/03/2008 11:00 PM - Had to insert this song.
Kay Sera Sera(Kavita Krishnamurti) - Pukar(2000). Despite not wanting to intentionally load this list with AR Rahman's songs, I had to include this song for reasons other than the singer Kavita and composer ARR. The video reveals the outstanding personalities who try to outdo one another in their dancing skills. Madhuri Dixit is the female and Prabhu Deva is the male dancer - the two most recognizable dancers of my generation in India. Madhuri took the baton from Madhbala and Rekha, while Prabhu Deva is a self-professed idolizer of Michael Jackson. Hats off to them both and here is the song.


Mangta Hai Kya(AR. Rahman, Shwetha Shetty) - Rangeela(1995). A.R. Rahman is one music composer after R.D.Burman who uses his vocal chords very effectively and puts them to limited use unlike some (like Anu Malik, Bappi Lahiri, RP Patnaik etc.). He has a great voice and is used very effectively in this stomper. The choreography is good for the age it was made in. Urmila looks like a kid in the song with a short skirt during the beginning of the song. Swetha Shetty was fresh from her success of the pop song Deewane To Deewane Hain and provides good support to ARR.


Akhiyon se Goli Mare(Sonu Nigam, Jaspinder Narula) - Dulhe Raja(1988). Govinda could be called the biggest comic hero in the Hindi Movie Industry ever. More famous for his gaudy dressing sense, he is also skilled in displaying his dance moves while bringing smiles to the audience. I loved his movies before Hera Pheri made Akshay Kumar a star with comic flavor and every Tom, Dick and Harry followed suit. I look forward to his come back. This movie has Raveena Tandon on his side who is not that bad a dancer herself.


De De Pyar De(Kishor Kumar) - Sharaabi(2004). This song has Kishore Kumar at his best, singing drunkard tone with ease. But the credit must be given to Bappi Lahiri for composing this ever lasting memorable song. The other reason for this song making the list must be my soft corner for Jaya.


I am an Disco Dancer(Vijay Benedict) - Disco Dancer(1982). I have not seen this movie to date. But I grew up listening to this song. Not at home as we did not have TV or a Tape Player yet then. Must be from here and there during Ganesh Chaturdi pandals in the street and on AIR. I do not know who the singer Vijay is. But it is a great song and part of my childhood memory. This movie has two songs in my list just because of the impression these songs left during my childhood.

Edit - 08/03/2009 11:45PM - The female of version of the song is here. Not sure who the singer is here.


Jimmy Aja(Parvati Khan) - Disco Dancer(1982). Parvati Khan was my introduction to Indian and Hindi Pop long after this movie came out. I think the first pop by an Indian I have heard must be 'Papa Dont Preach', originally by Madonna, sung by Parvati Khan on a late night pop music show in Doordarshan on a New Year Eve.


Na Mangun Sona Chandi(Shailendra Singh, Manna Dey) - Bobby(1973). It is probably Prem Nath with his funny suit, the Goan dances or the innocent looking Dimple that makes this song a great watch. The filmi masala genius of Raj Kapoor is visible in every frame of this movie.


Hawa Hawa - Hasan Jahangir. This song 'Hawa Hawa e Hawa' was one more childhood memory of mine from listening to it from the Ganesh Chaturdi Pandal Speakers who would steal the electricity from the street post. I did not know that the singer was a Pakistani until yesterday. Good job Youtube. Great songs and great lyrics.

Another live performance from the singer Hasan Jahangir can be found here.

All the songs listed below are quite old and I will upload the data when I get time. I was exposed to these and many other songs from Chitrahaar of Doordarshan National Channel that used to be called DD1 during my time. DD1 was telecast in Hindi and sometimes in English. It would be surprising but it was the only channel available in India about two decades ago. I learnt Hindi just watching the programmes in the limited broadcast they published.

Mere Sapnon Ki Rani - Kishore Kumar. I think this is from the movie 'Mere Sapnon Ki Rani' starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore. Rajesh Khanna was the soft lover boy of my Father's generation, Numero Uno of the Hindi Movie Industry before Amitabh, the angry Young Man, forcibly took over the mantle.


Baar Baar Dekho-

Johny Mera Naam - Pal Bar Ke Liye

CID - Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar

Shree 420 - Ramaya Wasta Vaiya

Naya Daur - Ude Jab Jab Zulfe Tere. This is a digitally remastered version of the old movie song from the movie Naya Daur. Great movie. Thanks to DD for some good memories.