Somehow not everyone seems to have gotten the memo, but the reason the World Health Organisation (WHO) is recommending people to use soap to wash their hands for up to 20 seconds is as a short-hand to say wash your hands thoroughly. Not everyone has access to those graphics with the pictures that show the step-by-step process (palm-to-palm, do the back of your hands, do the fingertips, rotate around the thumb, scrub each palm, wash the soap off your hands) so they're encouraging us all to make sure we are really getting those hands clean.
Soap is better than those anti-bacterial gels because soap breaks up fat, and fat is what holds the coronavirus together (look it up, it's science). So good old soap can deconstruct the virus even if it gets on your hand. But counting up to 20 seconds every time you wash your hands can get tedius, so the WHO issued a recommendation to sing (to yourself presumably) the Happy Birthday song twice over as a means to time 20 seconds as it takes about that time to sing the birthday song all the way through, twice.
Sing the Happy Birthday song twice over? That sounds too repetitive to even complete during one handwashing session, let alone the many we now have to get through during the day. Why not find an equally catchy chorus that we can sing to measure out those recommended 20 seconds that we all know? Well, we already put together a list for some recommended choruses from the 70s, so now it's time to find the catchiest songs of the 80s for all those Gen-Xers out there. Luckily, the 80s got those in spades.
Oh, this one even breaks down what hand-washing movements you should do on each line of the lyric. This is like, an elevated version of Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, the most played song from the 80s to this day on Spotify.
Here is the chorus, if that's what you prefer, which also comes in at 20 seconds.
Strangers waitin'
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searchin' in the night
Streetlight people
Livin' just to find emotion
Hidin' somewhere in the night
What other obnoxiously catchy songs did the 80s offer to us?
Oh, don't you worry. There are soooooo many.
Let's start with a bang: Come On Eileen.
Dexy's Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
Come on Eileen
Oh, I swear (What he means)
At this moment you mean everything
You in that dress
My thoughts (I confess)
Verge on dirty
Oh, come on Eileen
(Come on Eileen!)
Let's just all the way go for it, shall we.
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go – Wham
Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
Wake me up before you go-go
'Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go
Take me dancing tonight
I wanna hit that high (yeah, yeah)
Africa – Toto
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one (Oh, baby)
But the kid is not my son, hoo!
She says I am the one (Oh, baby)
But the kid is not my son (Hee-hee-hee, no-no-no, hee-hee-hee)
Hoo!
I Wanna Dance With Sombeody – Whitney Houston
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Madonna – Like A Prayer
When you call my name it's like a little prayer
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there
In the midnight hour I can feel your power
Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there
Raspberry Baret – Prince
Raspberry beret
The kind you find in a second hand store
Raspberry beret
And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more
Raspberry beret
I think I love her
Okay, this is the part where we get to a stunning revelation. We think Bon Jovi is a secret agent from the future who was sent on this planet to protect us all from this outbreak as every single one of his choruses is at least 20 seconds not to mention extremely catchy (not apologising for the pun) so anyone who survived the 80s will know them word for word, whether they wanted to or not.
So our instruction would be, take your pick of any Bon Jovi song, but we're including the choruses from the top three Bon Jovi hand-cleaning songs.
Bon Jovi – It's My Life
It's my life, it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life) My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life
Bon Jovi – Livin' On A Prayer
She says, "We've got to hold on to what we've got
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not
We've got each other and that's a lot for love
We'll give it a shot"
Woah, we're halfway there
Woah-oh, livin' on a prayer
Take my hand, we'll make it, I swear
Woah-oh, livin' on a prayer
You Give Love A Bad Name – Bon Jovi
Shot through the heart and you're to blame
You give love a bad name (Bad name)
I play my part and you play your game
You give love a bad name (Bad name)
You give love a...(bad name)
The only song possibly catchier and therefore a more perfect timer for washing your hands to measure out 20 seconds, has to be the catchiest most fun to sing-along to chorus of all time forever and always.
Guns N Roses, Paradise City
Take me down to the Paradise City
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home? Yeah-yeah
Take me down to the Paradise City
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home
