Picture it. It's 7.38 on a random Tuesday morning. You're a 23-year-old BCom marketing graduate who has been shortlisted for a great opportunity to work as an assistant to the KFC marketing manager. After two rounds of interviews you're at KFC headquarters on William Nicol Drive in Bryanston for the final interview and you've been assured by many insiders via nod, smile and wink that you're the front runner and Lewis Hamilton of the whole race. Things are looking good.But as you walk in to the boardroom to face the interview panel, you sense a dramatic drop in temperature in the atmosphere, all the way down to Antarctic levels.The interview is curt and ends abruptly. You clearly didn't get the job. Not only are you devastated, you're shocked and perplexed. What could have possibly gone wrong?Well, as it so happens, you spent half the previous night on Google, acquainting yourself with KFC's competition, threats and nemeses.As a result of your research you've been singing, "Param paam paam paam, I'm lovin' it!" under your breath the entire 1.5 hours you've been waiting. Yes, you've been subconsciously singing the McDonald's anthem while waiting to be interviewed by KFC, loud enough for everyone to hear! Do you know what that's called? Yes: awkward career suicide.block_quotes_start Die Stem has a particularly catchy melody, which probably explains why it gets stuck in my head so often block_quotes_endAnd that, folks, is what happens when you get infected by an earworm. I think an earworm is more than just a song that gets stuck in your brain. I think it's some kind of flu of the brain implanted by the devil to ruin everybody's life. How else do you explain that hardly anybody ever gets welcome, pleasant earworms? Wouldn't it be wonderful if the song stuck inside my head was my favourite track from Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life? But no, it's always gotta be a blooming Die Stem.story_article_left1Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the song per se. Musically, I think Die Stem has a particularly catchy melody, which probably explains why it gets stuck in my head so often. But despite all the assurances from the '90s Codesa talks, I have my doubts that humming Die Stem while standing in the queue to collect Sanral tender application forms to provide e-toll gantry security would work. Call it a hunch.The same goes for having that catchy-ass Dubul'ibhunu song stuck in your head while waiting in the papsak queue, if you happen to find yourself a beneficiary of the dop system.You have to concede that most of these allegedly controversial songs are as catchy as hell. I bet that many AfriForum members found themselves inadvertently humming Dubul'ibhunu during that famous Juju Malema trial. That's the power of music.The more scientific evidence comes to light proving that human free will is a delusion and human intelligence a sadistic, vicious rumour, the more vociferously people will dispute that humans are like a lump of putty when subjected to the power of music. Music has been used effectively to make us happy, sad, angry or amorous to the point of mating. This is why JayZ and Beyoncé have made enough money to buy Table Mountain if they wanted to.So you have to spare a thought for Thabo Mbeki during the 2007 ANC Polokwane conference. Zuma had a gem in the mould of Mandoza's Nkalakatha with that Mshiniwami song. Mbeki had nothing. Well, except for stats, facts, figures from the internet and stuff like that.I will wager that the Mshiniwami song is so catchy that at least one Union Building secretary ended up in the UIF lines for subconsciously humming the song while waiting for President Mbeki to sign a quiet diplomacy memo. That secretary is no doubt at the National Assembly nowadays, pointing out overfed Red Berets hiding underneath the tables to waiters clad in penguin black-and-white uniforms, but that's neither here nor there.And if the DA is serious about gaining traction instead of gloating about its 22%, it will identify its own catchy anthem for people to hum subconsciously while they try to figure out which one of Mmusi's accents is authentic. Just as long as the people have a song and a catchy earworm.story_article_right2I guess my point is that we've all got to be aware of the earworms stuck inside our heads. There are few thing weirder than minding your own business in a bank queue only to realise people are staring. It's usually at that moment that you realise that you've been humming "The wheels on a bus go round and round" because you spent the afternoon ferrying around a bunch of four-year-old snot-faced bacterial incubators from crèche.The same goes for that Freshly Ground hit. Su rely, no normal South African has never found themselves driving along or doing the garden while whistling "Do bee do bee do bee do by yay!"? Come on, you know you have.And as much as Barney Simon tried to maintain a career out of Celine Dion-ridiculing, practically everyone reading this has had this earworm oscillating between their respective eardrums: "You were my strength when I was weak, You were my voice when I couldn't speak ."Not all earworms are unpleasant, though. Mrs N once went through an entire two-month period serving notice from a job she didn't want going, "I'm walking on sunshine!" every 20 seconds. And I think we can agree that if you have James Brown's I Feel Good! stuck inside your brain, you're probably alright.Writing as a man who hums Christmas carols in July, my last words about this is: resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.E-mail Ndumiso Ngcobo at ngcobon@sundaytimes.co.za or follow him on Twitter: @NdumisoNgcobo..