Everyone gets songs stuck in their heads that just won’t go away. They sneak into your subconscious. They are epic earworms that you find yourself humming uncontrollably, singing in the shower, or tapping the beat to with your foot or ballpoint pen when you should be working. Sometimes they even keep you awake at night. Whether they are current hits, one-hit wonders, movie soundtrack gems, holiday favorites, or songs from your youth, their catchy vocals, riffs, hooks, and choruses seem to linger for days.
Here, those songs find a home, no matter the genre. Here, those epic earworms are revisited, explained, and celebrated. Here, you may find the song that haunts you tomorrow. Here is today’s unescapable epic earworm of the day…and the story behind it.
Today’s Epic Earworm: Cyndi Lauper — “Time After Time”
“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper, Courtesy of Portrait/Epic
Cyndi Lauper was coming off the breakup of her first band, Blue Angel, and a bankruptcy when she signed a deal with Portrait Records to record her first solo album. That album, She’s So Unusual, went on to be a smashing success, selling over seven million copies in the United States alone and reaching Number Four on the Billboard 200. Much of the album’s success can be attributed to its first two singles. The lead single, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” reached Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over six million copies. It was the second single, however, that was Lauper’s first to top the charts.
Charting Time After Time
When Lauper was almost finished recording She’s So Unusual, her producer, Rick Chertoff, told her that she needed one more song. Chertoff set Lauper up with Rob Hyman of the band The Hooters to help co-write the song. As they worked, the duo needed a temporary name for the demo until they got all the lyrics worked out. Lauper, reading a TV Guide, saw a listing for a sci-fi movie where Malcolm McDowell, playing a version of H.G. Wells, invents a time machine. The movie was called “Time After Time.” Lauper always intended to scrap the title as they developed the song, but it ended up working perfectly.
The label liked the song so much that they wanted “Time After Time” to be the lead single, but Lauper refused. She felt that if they released a ballad first, she would be pigeon-holed for life as a balladeer. So, the label relented and used it as the second single. Besides topping the charts for two weeks, “Time After Time” also earned Lauper 11 award nominations (including seven wins) and sold over five million copies in the U.S.
The song’s success didn’t end there, though. After topping the charts initially in 1984, the song re-entered the Billboard charts in 2005, when Lauper re-recorded it with Sarah McLachlan for an acoustic album. The song’s staying power has resulted in more than 100 other artists covering it. Different cover versions of the song have led to the song charting five more times in the U.S. and several more times overseas. Pretty good for a filler song recorded at the last minute…
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