The Germans call them Ohrwürms, or earworms.
[grammar nazi mode] Actually it's sg.
Ohrwurm and pl.
Ohrwürmer [/grammar nazi mode]
As English is not my native language, I often mishear lots of lyrics passages and then those misheard versions get stuck in my head. The crazier those passages, the more they "play" in my mind. Lately it's been Lady Gaga/Beyoncé's "Telephone", where I keep understanding total nosense like "...and the way you're blowing up my phone makes me leave the pastor, cook my coke on 'faster'..." Another one is Owl City's "Fireflies" (urgh, how I
hate that song, plus the stupid radio stations have been playing that ear torture like 20x a day for the last half year or so... so annoying) where it says (at least to my ears): "In 'Planada', turn slowly..." I have no idea what "Planada" is, is it by any chance that country next to the Unlighted Gates? (ok that was lame :bleh
. But I can understand that it's very cold there, so the advice to "turn slowly" actually makes some sense, or else you might slip on the icy floor and crash into a (maple) tree!
I lately had and to some extent still have another song stuck in my head (hence the line under my username). It's from an old but hilarious flash video I lately re-discovered:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/yatta. I lose it everytime when the "Nippon Q Queue" passage starts! Later I found out that the song they used is from an even older Japanese TV show sketch that can be found on Youtube (warning: weird and disturbing content ahead!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL5DDSglM_s