Prime Minister Boris Johnson today reiterated in his coronavirus battle plan how singing ‘happy birthday’ can be helpful in helping to stave off the quickly spreading virus.
Warbling the traditional birthday tune twice – which takes around 20 seconds – is about the right amount of time health officials say you should wash your hands for to make sure they’re properly clean.
Mr Johnson, speaking after the Cobra meeting this morning, said: ‘Don’t forget it is still the case that the single most useful thing we can all do is to wash our hands – two times Happy Birthday, hot water and soap.’
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The time it takes to sing happy birthday twice is a good estimate of the 20 seconds people should take to wash their hands according to health officials – but the song has already grown old for some
New York-based Twitter user Jen Monnier said she was offering a ‘public service’ by compiling a coronavirus playlist of songs with choruses that work with the 20-second government recommendation for hand-washing
However, social media users are already expressing their boredom at using happy birthday as their hand-washing guide.
One helpful music fan, journalist Jen Monnier, from New York, decided as a ‘public service’ to come up with her own coronavirus playlist, which includes a handful of popular songs where the chorus takes around 20 seconds to sing.
The playlist has now been viewed more than 200,000 times on Twitter as others have joined in to add their own favourite songs to wash to.
Here’s 20-second sections from ten popular hits – and a reminder of the lyrics – that make for perfect musical accompaniment to the current health advice.
Lizzo’s 2016 earworm Good as Hell has a catchy chorus that’s around 20 seconds when repeated twice
LIZZO – GOOD AS HELL
CHORUS LYRICS – REPEAT TWICE
I do my hair toss, check my nails
Baby how you feelin’?
Feeling good as hell
Hair toss, Check my nails
Baby how you feelin’?
Feeling good as hell
Prince’s classic Raspberry Beret also makes the cut of tunes replacing happy birthday in the coronavirus playlist
PRINCE – RASPBERRY BERET
CHORUS LYRICS – REPEAT TWICE
Raspberry beret
The kind you find in a second hand store
Raspberry beret
Raspberry beret
I think I love her
PINK FLOYD – ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
It’s 40 years old but Pink Floyd’s 1979 classic works too if you warble the first verse
CHORUS LYRICS
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers, leave them kids alone
Hey, teacher, leave us kids alone
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
PROCLAIMERS – 500 MILES
Proclaim your hands clean: Charlie and Craig Reid’s eighties hit 500 Miles can help
SING ONCE, FOLLOWED BY THE ‘DA DA DA, DA DA DA’ SECTION
But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
BEYONCE – LOVE ON TOP
A belter: The chorus of Love on Top by Beyonce lasts around 20 seconds
CHORUS LYRICS
Baby it’s you, You’re the one I love
You’re the one I need
You’re the only one I see
Come on baby it’s you
You’re the one that gives your all
You’re the one I can always call
When I need to make everything stop
Finally you put my love on top
TOTO – AFRICA
Believed by many to be one of the greatest songs ever written, Toto’s soul-stirring Africa does the job if you repeat the chorus
CHORUS LYRICS – REPEAT TWICE
It’s gonna take a lot to take 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
LOU BEGA – MAMBO NO 5
Can you remember all the names? Lou Bega’s 1999 reworking of the 40s classic was among the suggestions being made on Twitter
CHORUS LYRICS
A little bit of Monica in my life
A little bit of Erica by my side
A little bit of Rita is all I need
A little bit of Tina is what I see
A little bit of Sandra in the sun
A little bit of Mary all night long
A little bit of Jessica here I am
A little bit of you makes me your man
FLEETWOOD MAC – LANDSLIDE
CHORUS LYRICS
Add some emotion to your handwashing via Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide (Pictured: Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and former member Lyndsey Buckingham)
Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I’m getting older, too
Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I’m getting older, too
Oh, I’m getting older, too
Queen of Country Dolly Parton’s Jolene, first released in 1973, makes the cut too
DOLLY PARTON – JOLENE
CHORUS LYRICS – REPEAT TWICE
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I’m begging of you please don’t take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don’t take him just because you can
NURSERY RHYME – ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT
An oldie but a goodie – and great for young handwashers
CHORUS LYRICS
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream