I got a chuckle out of this list of the Top 10 Worst Hiking Songs over at the National Geographic Adventure Blog today. The list is loosely defined as the worst songs you want stuck in your head as you head out on the trail, and it’s pretty hard to argue with them. See what you think:
10. “We Built This City,” by Starship
9. “Achy Breaky Heart,” by Billy Ray Cyrus
8. “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega
7. “Whoomp! There It Is,” by Tag Team
6. “Who Let the Dogs Out,” by Baha Men
5. “Copacabana,” by Barry Manilow
4. “Ants Go Marching,” by artist unknown
3. “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” by Tony Orlando
2. “My Sharona,” by The Knack
1. “My Humps,” by Black Eyed Peas
Now imagine walking down the trail with pretty much any one of those songs stuck in your head, and about 15 miles of isolation waiting for you. This would also make for a pretty crappy playlist on your iPod now that you mention it.
The article starts off by saying that you might leave your iPod at home for practical purposes or to save weight, but really, this pure terror that this list should inspire in you were one of these to get stuck in your head should convince you that you should never, ever, under any circumstances, leave home without your mp3 player. Period.
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Well while walking in the desert I had:
“I will survive” – gloria gaynor
“boulevard of broken dreams (….i walk alone…” – green day
and the worse (because of my walking sticks that some came in my head): “stick with you” – pussycat dolls
After reading the list, I kept thinking about the scene from “Touching The Void” where Joe Simpson was dragging himself down the mountain, two shattered legs, struggling for his life, and he had a crappy Bony-M song in his head. LOL!
Other suggestions for the list that I’ve heard include: YMCA by the Village People and Yellow Submarine from the Beatles.
Oh Great, now I have even more songs to ruminate over and over…
😉
Actually, there have been many of these that get almost meditative and make the miles flow by…
On one trip, I had the Beatles Yellow Submarine on a broken record in my head for a long day…
DSD
I have to admit, I actually like “Yellow Submarine”, but it is damn hard to get out of your head!
Many of those songs get stuck in my head too. Great list.
…my sharona!
LOL! Thanks Wade! With that last line of your note, I now have The Knack singing their one hit, going through my head. 😉
Leftover songs from childhood days linger far to long into the wilds of today!
Most of my current hiking pals do not like on the trail singing UNLESS we are in Grizzly country because we WANT to see the wildlife and especially the birds, but… the yellow submarine was a biggie inside my head for a long time and I am so glad it pushed out 100 bottles of beer on the wall!