The Slice: Earworms that last more than 50 years

The Slice had asked about records we internalized because a sibling played them over and over.

“So I was the little brother of Gary Heimbigner, who loved ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ and bought the album,” wrote Craig Heimbigner.

He knows it by heart.

“I have known it all my life. I can sing the chorus ode to Ed Sullivan. I know all of ‘What’s the Matter with Kids Today?’ But NO ONE MY AGE knows these songs, no one else ever saw this movie, no one else had this album. I knew what it was like to have my references outdated before I was 12.”

Carl Heldt wonders: “I am old enough to remember traveling carnivals coming to town and the hucksters that stood outside the tents trying to get folks to come in to see the attraction. If cities had these hucksters outside each city, trying to get folks to visit, what would the Spokane huckster say?”

Not suitable for all ages: “Your question in (Tuesday’s) newspaper about realizing movies may be a little inappropriate only after we have recommended them to our children made me think of three instances when this happened to me,” wrote Victoria Van Inwegen.

Here’s one. “In ‘The Goonies,’ Chunk swears a lot. It was painful to watch this movie with my husband and two children, all there at my insistence. I could feel the waves of disapproval from my husband each time one of the Goonies let loose with a bad word, which was ALL THE TIME!”

Bridget Dagg’s story is a bit different.

“After our daughter turned 12, my husband and I felt she was mature enough to watch her younger brother (four years younger) while we had an evening out at the home of friends.”

Bridget rented a couple of movies for the kids which she thought they might enjoy. One was “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.”

“Our hostess answered the phone shortly after our arrival and said it was for me. Our daughter proceeded to let me know in no uncertain terms that ‘PT&A’ was ‘inappropriate’ for her younger brother because ‘Steve Martin said the F word about 10 times in a row.’ While her level of outrage made me silently chuckle, I was proud of how seriously she took her role as protector of her brother and felt legitimately chastised.”

Today’s Slice question: What is this area’s most common complaint about neighbors?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Charlene Luzynski of Blanchard, Idaho, said her family competes every year, starting at Thanksgiving, to see whose amaryillis bulb will produce the tallest stalks and prettiest flowers.