The Last Song Stuck in Your Head on Trail?

Perry

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I may be the only one that suffers from this syndrome but I suspect not. When you are on trail do you get a song stuck in your head that you sing to yourself, silently or perhaps out loud (gasp!) ? Listening to music doesn't qualify, it has to happen organically. So tell us about the last song on which you were stuck last time on trail.
 
I'll go first...

I choose not to listen to music when I'm in the backcountry but I do listen when I do my daily walks around town. Not too long ago I began listening to a iHeartRadio playlist called "Class of 72". Not I'm not *that* old, but close. I actually graduated in 1976 but the music during my highschool years generally sucked big time. Can you say disco sucks? LOL Anyway, on my last couple of backcountry trips I found myself stuck on City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie.


More frustrating than just getting stuck on it is when you can't seem to remember all the words, or, at least, get the verses all mixed up. LOL
 
Last edited:
It's A Sunshine Day
-The Brady Bunch

Lol, just kidding but now it's in YOUR head.

I think the last song I hummed was "Here comes the sun" when we finally got above the fog and clouds at Glacier View. We got socked right back in again but it was a nice 5 minutes.


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It's A Sunshine Day
-The Brady Bunch

Lol, just kidding but now it's in YOUR head.

I think the last song I hummed was "Here comes the sun" when we finally got above the fog and clouds at Glacier View. We got socked right back in again but it was a nice 5 minutes.


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That’s a curse you just dropped right there. Thanks a bunch
 
Bob Wire---excellent. Back in the 80's I had the whole song memorized and sang it to myself as I backpacked. Still remember some of it---

"Oh where have you been my blue eyed son . . "

"I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard . . "

"I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it . . ."

"I met a young child beside a dead pony . . ."
ETC ETC

And then I memorized the words to Dylan's Shelter from the Storm.
 
In Great Basin I had Seals & Crofts - Diamond Girls stuck in my head. But only a few lines. Over and over, forever. It got into my head that it was as if the album had a skip in it. To get rid of it I used my mental palette cleanser.......Santa Claus is Coming To Town.
That’s funny. My wife swears by Mary Had a Little Lamb to get out of the song trap.
 
Wow you guys all seem to sing actual songs. I always sing like children songs or commercial jingles haha or I tend to make up my own songs as I walk around and see things.
I always get a song stuck in my head, same one, everytime, but can't think what it is right now. Maybe @Bobbiesworld626 knows. Otherwise, I am backpacking next week and can report back. :)
 
I'm a classical musician, so I tend to choose specific pieces of music as my hiking soundtrack. Sometimes I even choose to work through a piece... something I'm practicing.

If I get tired of it, I choose something else...
 
I too am a classical musician and was raised a clarinetist---attended North Texas State---USAF Band etc.

I bring a little radio on my trips and try to listen to a couple local classical stations and a couple gems pass through when they're not playing 24/7 piano music. Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy is one of my faves.
 
As part of my bear deterrent plan I could be heard singing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" in Yellowstone last week. My apologies to anyone in hearing range. . . I kept thinking it was rather location appropriate though.

I tend to make up my own songs as I walk around and see things.

I do that too @Miya -- Not sure if you are old enough to know Johnny's "Five feet high and rising" but on my 10 mile one way hike to the Shoshone Geyser Basin I came up with:

How far's the Geyser Mama?
Six miles away and dropping.
How far's the Geyser Papa?
She said its six miles away and dropping.

I chose to risk my neck
on this Yellowstone trek
If I don't make it back my wife will give me heck
Six miles away and dropping.

There is always more, but I think I've revealed too much already. :)
 
It usually depends on what I hear on the drive to the trailhead.

A couple years ago I had Sam Cooke's "Cupid" stuck in my head for a couple days.

If I hear Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" then that is definitely stuck

Or something on the trail sparks a connection, like sunrise/sunset and an appropriate song pops up.

Crossing creeks/streams especially in winter/spring when the water is cold will usually lead to Van Morrison "And It Stoned Me" making an appearance in my head

My last trip to SEKI I had something running through my head for 3 or 4 days, but I can't remember what it was.

I think @Brendan S has it right, solo backpacking for a couple days and weird stuff happens
 
Normally a song I hear on the drive there. Last one was One Foot by Walk the Moon.

Had never heard it before that day and my son was playing music through his phone. Hiked for three days singing one line over and over. Had to google it to find the song. I didn't even remember hearing it on the drive, but after asking him he said it had played.
 
That's funny - probably the song that's gotten stuck in my head the most consistantly over the years is similarly named - in this case, One Foot in Hell, by Forbidden.
I would love to be out of sight along the trail as you walk by singing that out loud
 
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