Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head?

TV commercials are the worst for doing that to me. I wake up in the morning and there is a song playing in my head and I think to myself, “Now how did *THAT* get in here?!?” Usually, it was just some snippet of song on a commercial, maybe even not the exact song, but one close enough to trigger some sort of neurological cascade of misfiring neurons in my admittedly odd brain. And, voila! Morning head music!

I spend far too much time pondering the question of where something like that came from. Thank you, Google and the Internet! And, again, usually I can pin it down. And commercials today are playing so much music with which I am familiar, I think the problem is actually getting worse! I think this may be a comment on my age. My theory is this: Once you and your music get to be a certain age, it becomes fodder for TV commercials. I think it is a very sad milestone in the aging process, too. Probably not as bad as when Muzak remakes your favorite song into some mutant, bastardized, but still sadly recognizable version of its former self. But it’s bad…definitely bad.

The latest culprit is Toyota and their Third Generation Prius. Here is a link to the commercial if you haven’t seen it:
http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/commercial.html
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with a hybrid car, mind you! No, not at all. Nothing except the smugness factor of the driver, of course! And the fact that it is a silent, environmentally friendly ton of smug-driven death hurtling down on unaware pedestrians… It’s the song they use…”Let Your love Shine”. It’s not the original song, though. It’s a new one, sung á capella by Petra haden. You can find her official website at:
http://petrahadenmusic.com/sounds.html
Anyhow, it’s a wonderful song where Petra sings every bit herself, including the instrumental portions! It reminded me of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in that regard. I finally had to track down the song, and thank you to Toyota for making it available for a free download! I was then able to listen several times to the full version until my mental fixation dwindled to a manageable level. Of course, if I was totally over it, I’d not be writing about it, right?

So, now that I’ve got that off my chest, maybe you’ve got the song stuck in your head? Well, if you did, then…yeah, it’s my fault.