Alright, so the other day I got this tune, just rattling around in my skull. You know how it is, you can’t shake it. And I was pretty sure the words went something like ‘rikki tikki something’. Sounded familiar, but the exact words? Gone. Poof.
My Wild Goose Chase for “Rikki Tikki”
So, what do you do? I hopped online, of course. Typed “rikki tikki lyrics” into the search bar, expecting it to be dead simple. Boy, was I wrong. It was like every other website had a different idea, or just a jumble of nonsense. Some were trying to sell me ringtones, others were fan forums arguing about it. Total mess.
I spent a good, oh, I don’t know, twenty minutes clicking around. Getting a bit frustrated, I won’t lie. Kept thinking, “This can’t be that hard, can it?” It’s just some song lyrics. But no, the internet decided to play games with me that day. I even started wondering if I’d dreamt the whole song up! My kid was asking what I was muttering about, and I just waved him off, deep in the lyric hunt.
Then, a little lightbulb went off. A tiny, flickering one at first. “Am I even saying it right?” I mumbled to myself. This happens to me more than I’d like to admit. My brain hears one thing, the actual thing is slightly different. Happens with names, song titles, you name it. It’s like my internal autocorrect is a bit too aggressive.
The Big Reveal (Spoiler: I Was a Bit Off)
So, I thought, “Okay, what else could it be?” I tried humming the tune out loud, which probably made me look a bit daft, sitting there by myself. My wife gave me a funny look. And then it hit me – like a ton of bricks! It wasn’t ‘rikki tikki’ at all. Not even close, well, kinda close but no cigar.
The song I was actually thinking of was “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” Steely Dan! Of course! Once I had the actual title, finding the real lyrics was a piece of cake. Bam, there they were, clear as day. All that faffing about for nothing, just because my brain decided to play a little trick on me. Felt a bit foolish, to be honest, after all that searching.
It’s funny, isn’t it? You go down these rabbit holes sometimes.
- You think you know something for sure.
- You’re absolutely convinced.
- And then it turns out your memory just, well, messed with you.
Makes you wonder about all those lyrics sites, though. How many of them just copy from each other, errors and all? Or maybe they’re just trying to catch every possible misspelling people like me type in. Who knows. All I know is, for a while there, “rikki tikki” was my Everest. Glad I finally figured it out. Next time, I’ll try humming it to one of those song recognition apps first, save myself the headache and the weird looks from the family.
