In the wake of the coronavirus, you might've noticed:
According to the World Health Organization, properly washing your hands means washing as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice — 20 seconds or so.
Singing "Happy Birthday" over and over can get pretty boring, though, so people are taking to Twitter to suggest other, more fun 20-second alternatives to sing:
1. For example, you can sing My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade":
Millennial Handwashing Tip: If you want to make sure you wash your hands for 20 seconds, start singing Welcome to the Black Parade from "When I was" to "the beaten and the damned."
2. BTS fans can sing "On":
You're supposed to wash your hands for 20 sec but if you are like „I don‘t wanna count to 20 everytime I wash my damn hands“ I can tell you that the refrain of ON is exactly 20 seconds long. So wash your hands, sing ON, have a good time and stay safe
Exactly 20 seconds!
3. Christina Aguilera fans can sing this old fave:
Hey everyone if you sing the bridge and chorus to Candyman by Christina Aguilera it’s twenty seconds long exactly so sing it while you wash your hands and look directly into the mirror
It takes 20 seconds to sing this from "I met him out for dinner on a Friday night" to "a sweet talkin' sugar coated candy man."
4. And fans of Kylie Minogue (or Goffin-King) can sing "The Loco-Motion":
The World Health Org (@WHO) has a super helpful protocol for handwashing in the time of Coronavirus. I’ve re-created here. “Happy Birthday” is getting old; I went with “The Locomotion.” Not sure my form is perfect, but hope it helps.
It takes 25 seconds to sing from "Everybody's doing a brand-new dance, now" to "So come on, come on, do the Loco-Motion with me."
@JennMonnier, meanwhile, did us the public service of suggesting six — count 'em, six! – songs with 20-second choruses:
You're supposed to wash your hands for 20 sec, which is the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice. But I'm tired of singing Happy Birthday and you probably are too, so I've done the very important public service of compiling other songs with roughly 20 sec choruses to sing:
5. Beyoncé's "Love on Top":
1. Love on Top (Beyonce) https://t.co/7ax4Ya172v
Sing from "Baby it's you" to "Finally you put my love on top."
6. Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide":
2. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) https://t.co/2WZENLjTeR
Sing from "Well, I've been 'fraid of changin'" to "I'm gettin' older, too."
7. Prince's "Raspberry Beret":
3. Raspberry Beret (Prince) https://t.co/aB6gxpXJ8j
Sing from "She wore a raspberry beret" to "I think I love her."
8. Dolly Parton's "Jolene":
4. Jolene (Dolly Parton) https://t.co/GTl8UOwpf4
Sing from "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene" to "Please don't take him just because you can."
9. Toto's "Africa":
5. Africa (Toto) https://t.co/M2GV8Px5rT
Sing from "It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you" to "Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)."
10. And Lizzo's "Truth Hurts":
6. Truth Hurts (Lizzo) https://t.co/kELQZTfYky
Sing from "Why men great 'til they gotta be great?" to "Bom bom bi dom bi dum bum bay."
11. Singing the chorus to the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" works too — and it's also good for CPR:
@JenMonnier @JulianBirch "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees has a chorus that is 24 seconds long, and ALSO doubles as the cadence for doing CPR massage. One song, two vital health uses!
12. You can sing one verse of The Knack's "My Sharona" — or this guy's Weird Al-worthy takeoff, "My Carona":
@jdkattar @JenMonnier Sorry but I beat you to it...but you can use mine.
13. Star Wars fans can try humming the "Imperial March":
Apparently, to minimise risk of coronavirus, you should wash hands for at least 20 secs, which is approximately how long it takes to sing Happy Birthday or God Save The Queen. Neither tune appeals to me, but I’ve found that humming the Imperial March quite quickly works a treat.
14. While Star Trek fans can recite this famous speech:
Sing while you wash your hands (ok) Or! Join me in reciting: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before
It clocks in at 21 seconds!
15. OK, what else? Well, you can sing the chorus to "This Land Is Your Land":
@JenMonnier @paigereports_ This land is your land, this land is my land From the California to the New York island From the Redwood Forest, to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me
16. Or you can sing Joey's adaptation twice:
@steak_tuesday @pseudelight @jbushnell @mickeysplasht @notherMo @Chimaera000 @marthabellisle @JenMonnier @paigereports_ @rayadverb
17. You can pretend you're back in preschool and sing the ABCs:
TIP: sing your ABCs when you wash your hands. That’s about the right amount of time for washing. Also, you can really nail the alphabet.
18. You can sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or this cute handwashing-specific version:
@JenMonnier @everymage_jo I learned a song as a little kid that I've always thought was kind of goofy. To the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Washing hands is fun to do. It keeps the germs off me and you. Before work and after play. Wash your hands, oh, every day. (Repeat first two lines)
19. Or you can sing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah":
HAND WASHING TIPS: • make sure you’re washing the whole hand, fingertips to wrists • water temperature doesn’t really matter • how long? sing “zip-a-dee-doo-dah” to yourself as you scrub • washing your hands gives you a moment to choke back the tears and get on with your day
Just be sure to sing it slowly like James Baskett does in the movie!
Basically, this will be all of us while washing out hands:
@MsAliciaLove @JenMonnier A lot of strangers are gonna catch me sudsing up like